Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

• Overview

Although a zoo may not be exactly what people think of in terms of an animal shelter, some are in the fact that they help conserve animals and wildlife, in not just their parks, but the wild as well. The Fort Wayne Zoo in Indiana does just that. They began their zoo as a nature preserve in 1952. Since then, they have expanded rapidly into a well-developed zoo through dedication to wildlife and fostering the community in wildlife education. They are also a non-profit organization supported by no tax dollars. They were one of the nation's first zoos that was able to support itself through admissions, concessions, rides, and so forth. By creating a publicly interactive organization, they are able to raise funds to help support their dedications to wildlife, and thus continue to strive. With preservation being their dedication, it is no wonder that they have so many great educational opportunities to interact with the community.

• Their Specialties = Their Success

The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is successful because of the number of special activities that help get the community involved. A couple of the most important ones are the Adopt-An-Animal program and educational opportunities. Their Adopt-An-Animal program allows people to choose what animal they would like to adopt by paying fees that directly benefit the zoo and its animals. In return, donors receive photographs, fact sheets, certificates of adoption, and other great benefits. Its one way for them to receive funds and also to get the community involved. Aside from this, they offer a range of educational opportunities. Obviously, they allow schools to visit them and in exchange educate the children that come and give them a great experience in animal interaction. Another option they offer is for the zoo to go to them. They go to schools and can bring live animals to share with the students, enabling them to experience wild animals first hand and knowledge that will last a lifetime. For further education, they also offer volunteer positions each year as well as internships. Clearly, the zoo has several educational opportunities that make it as successful as it is.

• Benefiting the Community

The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo benefits society in a number of ways. Its educational opportunities encourage youth to enjoy wildlife and to learn more about it. Increasing interest in wildlife helps promote responsible citizens in caring for their environment as well as the possibilities of them developing a desire for those areas as professions. Their internships and volunteer programs allow teens to get hands on experience to find out if wildlife is their "calling". They also offer a $2,000 scholarship for high school students that are going into an animal field. The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo represents how important an organization can be to a community. The community gives and the zoo gives back. Without the community, the zoo could not exist, because they rely on their funds to achieve their goals of animal preservation. On the other hand, they give right back by helping develop educated members of the community and encouraging the pursuit of knowledge and care for the environment.

For more information, visit the following sites:

Zoo Website: http://www.kidszoo.org/

Their history: http://www.kidszoo.org/pdfs/fwczhistory.pdf