Renovation project will expand Buttonwood Park Zoo's Animal Ambassador program
NEW BEDFORD — Odin the one-eyed Virginia opossum has the gift of changing the minds of visitors to Buttonwood Park Zoo about what to expect of an opossum when they meet him.
Animals like Odin that are already part of the zoo’s environmental education-based Animal Ambassador program that started in 2014 will be joined by new animals in the renovated Buttonwood Barn when the zoo’s $2.4 million expansion project is completed.
New animals will be added with expansion
At a groundbreaking Friday morning, Buttonwood Park Zoo Director of Zoological Services Executive Director Gary Lunsford said the expansion of the program’s capacity and exhibit space will increase the diversity of animals that visitors will get to see up close.
He said the opossums, skunks, raptors, screech owls and tortoises that are part of the program will move into their new home in view of the guests instead of behind the scenes, and the new space will be occupied by tarantulas, giant African millipedes, African hissing cockroaches, praying mantis and snakes among other additions.
“What are currently domestic stalls will be made into enclosed rooms that will be climate-controlled and some of our reptiles and amphibians and small mammals will move in there,” he said.
Mayor Jon Mitchell said the Animal Ambassador program offers children a way to connect with animals in an up close and real way and thanked Lunsford and his team for all the work they have done with the program.
“Successful cities do things like this,” he said. “They bring people together, they aim high and they execute, and they do it for noble reasons. This is about giving kids who don’t have a lot an opportunity to learn and to grow and to develop.”
The animal ambassadors are intended to spark interest and appreciation, dispel myths and fear, cultivate empathy for wildlife and stress the importance of wildlife conservation.
The construction timeline ends in 2025
Construction begins in March and will likely be completed in mid-January. Lunsford said there will be an official opening in the spring of 2025.
The 3,600-square-foot Buttonwood Barn located in the northwest corner of the zoo by Charlie’s Nature Play Area was built by students years ago and will also be remodeled to provide more space for medical care. There will be a small addition with a family restroom and the current ones will be refurbished.
It will also be more environmentally friendly.
The Buttonwood Park Zoological Society contributed $100,000 to the project for design work and will be helping accommodate the animal during renovation. BayCoast Bank recently made a $250,000 donation to further educational opportunities.
Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Buttonwood Park Zoo's Animal Ambassador program expansion to come
