The birth of the Jacksonville Zoo 100 years ago could scarcely have been more humble.
It started in Springfield in an area near Third and Broad streets with the donation of one red deer fawn.
Later, several domestic animals were added and a “monkey island” was created.
The zoo moved to its present location bordering the Trout River in 1925. There were 85 animals on 37 1/2 acres. The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, as it is now known, now occupies more than 90 acres and is home to 2,000 rare and exotic animals and 1,000 varieties of plants.
Officials from the public and private sector marked the beginning of the zoo’s 100th year with a news conference Thursday. They praised the zoo’s expanding role in education and conservation as it continues to be a major draw for visitors — 816,000 people passed through the gates during the 2012-13 fiscal year.
And they pointed to events scheduled for the months ahead that should help make the zoo’s 100th year a memorable one.
The first is the opening in March of the Land of the Tiger exhibit, “the biggest project in the zoo’s history,” said Tony Vecchio, the zoo’s executive director.
The second is a weekend-long anniversary celebration May 11-12.
The $9.5 million tiger exhibit is the second phase of the zoo’s Asia Precinct expansion, which began in 2009 with the Asian Bamboo Gardens and the Komodo Dragon Exhibit. It will include two rare and endangered Sumatran tigers, which will likely be used for breeding, and three endangered Malayan tigers (they are brothers, brought here from the Palm Beach Zoo), the endangered Visayan warty pigs and babirusa pigs, Asian small-clawed otters and wrinkled and wreathed hornbills.
The exhibit is scheduled to open March 8-9.
During his remarks, Vecchio cited two important animal conservation events from 100 years ago.
The death at the Cincinnati Zoo of Martha, the last carrier pigeon, “got national attention” and “galvanized many conservationists,” Vecchio said. The same year, “a zoo was started in Jacksonville.”
One hundred years later, the Jacksonville Zoo is the area’s “the No. 1 visitor destination,” and a “leading force for conservation,” he said.
In a brief speech, Mayor Alvin Brown called the zoo a great asset to the city.
“There is no question that the zoo has brought natural wonder to the community,” he said, and plays a “major role in the education of our young people.”
Vecchio, who was executive director at the Oregon Zoo in Portland before coming to Jacksonville in 2009, talked about the evolving role of zoos as conservationists and educators in an interview after the news conference.
“I was around when zoos went from recreational to conservational,” he said. “Zoos used to be municipally run [Jacksonville’s is owned by the city but run by the Jacksonville Zoological Society], but in the 1970s people who really cared about animals” began getting involved, and by 1980, the American Zoo Association made conservation a priority.
“I don’t shy away from recognizing the importance of zoos as a recreational attraction,” Vecchio said, “but we are very committed to education and helping the next generation of young people to care about wildlife.”
David Crumpler: (904) 359-4164