Detroit Zoo plans to invest up to $24M on KidZone, prairie dogs and anteaters
A big addition planned for the Detroit Zoo will be called "KidZone" and it's described as “a thrilling place for children to play, make memories, experience the wonder of wildlife and learn about the natural world.”
Word of the plans leaked out Thursday at the Mackinac Conference of regional leaders who gather annually in northern Michigan. Detroit Zoo CEO Hayley Murphy is at the conference and talked about KidZone, although she was unavailable for comment on Thursday afternoon, a zoo spokeswoman said.
The investment is the first major project revealed by Murphy, who was named CEO late last year. Officials at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak confirmed that ground-breaking is about a year away for KidZone, expected to cost $20 million to $24 million.
The seven-acre area is to include a wheelchair-and-stroller-accessible “aerial trail” that will be 16 feet off the ground, a “treehouse play structure” with climbing challenges and slides, a water feature where kids can splash about, and a “reimagined barnyard” and farmland area where youngsters will learn about Michigan’s agriculture while getting in petting range of friendly domestic sheep and goats.
According to a proposed brochure about the project shared with the Free Press, KidZone will “help kids realize that their actions are important and make a difference to animals, the environment and other people.” The brochure predicts that KidsZone will attract 12% more visitors and draw an additional 13,000 children a year to visit on school field trips, all to “benefit the community and advance the educational mission of the Zoo.”
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Other features planned for KidZone include:
A new and expanded prairie dog habitat that has a large underground viewing area to see the tunnels and nests of the colony;
A new and expanded habitat for anteaters with a private viewing area that will give visitors “the opportunity to feed the anteaters and learn about them from a staff member who provides their daily care.”
Improvements to an existing area that will allow the return to the zoo of bush dogs, a threatened species of wild canines found in Central and South America.
A “Gathering Zone” where kids and adults can relax in the shade, recharge phones, and patronize concession stands, with “multiple family restrooms as well as an adult-sized changing table and lactation space.”
A tots area where kids can crawl "among larger-than-life elements that bring the natural world into focus."
Speaking of KidZone as a whole, Detroit Zoo Communications Manager Sarah Culton said: "We’re pretty excited about it."
Contact: blaitner@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Zoo to invest up to $24M on KidZone, prairie dogs, anteaters
