Zoo honors Nevada Day with birthday celebration

      One of Las Vegas' truly hidden treasures lies in a surprising and unassuming corner in the Northwest.
      The Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park, located at 1775 N. Rancho Drive, just a stone's throw away from Texas Station, has been open since 1983. The 2.5-acre zoo is home to the last family of Barbary apes in the United States and includes wide variety of other animals including chimpanzees, alligators, a Bengal tiger and even Australian wallabies.
      The zoo will be honoring Nevada Day on Saturday by celebrating the 10th birthday of the zoo's mountain lion, Cougie.
      Nevada Day is the perfect opportunity for the zoo to garner some public attention despite its virtual anonymity.
      "We really have a great thing here but because we are nonprofit we just don't have the money to advertise," said Pat Dingle, director and CEO of the Nevada Zoological Foundation. "But we have really had an influx of visitors who find out about us through public service announcements or other groups willing to promote the fact we are here."
      Visitor numbers at the zoo are on the upswing. Last year saw 37,000 visitors walk through the gates of the zoo with the 15-year total now at 657,000. That's a significant amount of people for a zoo not really well known in the community.
      As a way to better educate people about the zoo's existence and its continued desire to grow, a new curator has been brought on board. Dara Hall is not only an educated zoo keeper but also holds a master's degree in education.
      Dingle and the Southern Nevada Zoological Park brought her on board with the specific goal of increasing visibility and educational programs at the park.
      "The addition of Dara will help in further expanding our educational programs," Dingle said. "That will of course help in the overall exposure the zoo enjoys."
      Hall brings more than seven years of zoo experience having last worked in Seattle before deciding to come to Las Vegas.
      "When I found out there was a zoo here I was immediately intrigued," Hall said. "This city and its zoo have such an amazing amount of potential and what Pat has already built here is something very special. I'm committed to making the park even better and I think we are on the way to doing that."
      Construction can be seen just about anywhere in the park. Hall said $100,000 of capital improvements are now underway, including a new ostrich enclosure, an alligator pen complete with glass viewing area and an impressive reptile house that will serve as the center of the park.
      "The improvements within the park are very important to the animals and for those visitors coming in to see them," Hall said. "But besides that we are concentrating on our educational efforts and trying to make them the center of our universe here."
      Hall and the zoo are currently in the planning stages of designing a two-pronged educational effort for the park.
      The first step is to improve educational aides internally by adding state-of-the-art signage that will tell visitors more about the animals and their surroundings.
      "At other zoos around the world you see push-button displays with educational support material and that's one thing we hope to do," Hall said. "We also have educational signs at each enclosure that we accept sponsor money for and we hope to have more soon."
      The other educational area Dingle, Hall and the zoo want to develop is the educational outreach program. The zoo has had an excellent relationship with Clark County School District since the early 1980s.
      The relationship has grown in recent years with the massive growth of schools across the valley. But the park wants to reach more children by bringing the zoo to them.
      "We're currently developing a more extensive outreach program especially for kids at schools that may not be able to afford to come to the park," Hall said. "Many of those children can't come on their own to the zoo so we want to get out there and bring the animals and knowledge to them."
      Besides bringing the zoo to disadvantaged school children, the outreach program is an unprecedented way for kids to get a hands-on education.
      "There is no better way to learn than to actually reach out with your hands and touch what you're learning about," Hall said. "What the kids learn during an outreach session is something they could never get in the classroom."
      Hall said the education is not just for children. What adults can learn from the species is just as important as the lessons learned by young people.
      Entry into the zoo is $5.95 for adults, $3.95 for kids 2-12 and senior citizens. Children under 2 are admitted free. The Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.