By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
Rolling Hills Zoo are preserving the lives of an endangered species and at the same time, bringing in a brand new exhibit for visitors to appreciate wildlife.
"Tiger Falls," the Saline County zoo's newest scheduled exhibit has officially started to break ground, after a celebration on Thursday evening.
This exhibit is expected to hold up to 6 Amur Tigers, once it has officially been established.
Before the decision was made to bring in Tiger Falls, Executive Director Ryan VanZant attended a meeting with other zoo directors across the state.
The committee for Animal Population Management attended the meeting and conducted a presentation, where the directors played "endangered species bingo."
Whenever an endangered species was brought up during the game, the chairman of the committee would converse about how that specific animal was living in the zoos and the wild.
VanZant described the emotions he felt during the meeting.
"It was kind of depressing actually, there was alot of animals that were slowly disappearing and one of those animals was an Amur Tiger," he said.
Rolling Hills Zoo already has Amur Tigers, where they have bred and preserved the endangered species. But, the presentation revealed there are only about 104 of them in all of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), which the numbers were declining at 4.5% a year.
"It got my attention because the Rolling Hills Zoo just celebrated the 25th anniversary and that means 25 years from now, there is potential for no more Amur Tigers living in AZA zoos," VanZant said.
VanZant thought since they have breeded Amur Tigers in the past, the right thing to do was to create a new habitat that can support multiple tigers in the future.
He added this would also provide visitors and the community a "wonderful asset."
"Most people are not going to Asia, Russia or China to see this particular species, but we can bring that little part of the world here to Salina. Our public can come and see these cats up close, hear them breathe, smell their breath even sometimes if the wind is right, and when you have those experiences around an animal, it shows how important the natural world is. Helping biodiversity, helps ourselves."
Vice President of the Rolling Hills Zoo Board of Directors, Clark Renfro stated the AZA needs to give the go ahead for other zoos to perform breedings for specific types of animals. He added Rolling Hills Zoo have those resources to do so.
"I think it speaks volumes for our staff and board, that we have the facility and the resources to do that, because there are alot of AZA zoos that don't necessarily have that," Renfro said. "These conservation efforts helps zoos, but also in the wild. In our own special way here in Salina, we are making a global impact of what's happening."
A total of $3.5 million is the project cost, as many have contributed to the zoo's newest exhibit.
Those contributors include:
Blue Beacon Inc., Dane Hansen Foundation, McCune Foundation, Middlekauff Foundation, Jack Wilson Trust, Sandy Walker, Earl Bane Foundation, Mark & Julie Miller, Kansas Attraction Development Grant and the Vanier Family Fund, along with 104 other donors who have supported.
Hutton Design and Build is contracting the project.
VanZant stated the opening of Tiger Falls is hopeful for Spring 2027.
Along with that, the zoo is having a major renovation of their Snow Leopard exhibit, while bringing in Red Pandas for the first time ever.