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at Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo
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pen year-round (except Christmas and Thanksgiving days) from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Great Bend’s Brit Spaugh Zoo is fun and educational — and admission is free! The zoo is dedicated to the conservation, preservation and rescue of animals and to the education and entertainment of children and adults. The zoo staff also treats wounded birds of prey, known as raptors. Recent improvements In 2021 the zoo opened a new exhibit inside its main building, The Raptor Center. It features 26 small animals, including those that were previously housed in the Education Building, as well as freshwater
and saltwater aquariums. The new exhibit provides an improved viewing experience for visitors and better environmental control for the animals. Meanwhile, the “Ed Shed” is undergoing renovation and will eventually return to its original purpose as a room for educational programs, meetings and parties. Outdoors, construction was finished on the Bill McKown Memorial Pavilion, a handicap accessible gazebo located next to a freshwater pond. Visitors can enjoy this shaded area and feed the fish and waterfowl. A sidewalk was added around the reptile building where the tortoises and larger snakes are housed. Zoo Supervisor and Curator Ashley Burdick noted that this
much-needed improvement now allows better accessibility for those in wheelchairs and strollers. New animals A long-awaited addition arrived in 2020, when the bison exhibit opened. Like the grizzly bear exhibit that opened in 2018, this modern addition was made possible with a grant from the Dorothy M. Morrison Foundation. In 2020, the zoo added a two-dimensional, 7.5-foot tall bear sign near the exhibit to illustrate how big grizzly bears can be. Other new animals added in 2021 include a green tree python, a pot-bellied pig, an axolotl (a relative of the tiger salamander), and two capybaras — the largest rodent species on Earth.
EXPLORE OUR FREE ZOO FREE ADMISSION 2123 MAIN STREET GREAT BEND, KS OPEN 9AM-4:30 DAILY
w www.greatbendzoo.com
