If Huntsville (AL) continues it's growth pattern it will be up there with many similar sized cities that have zoos. But being halfway between Birmingham and Nashville means that there are zoos within 90 minutes of it in either direction. The fact there is no Zoo, a mild climate, and plenty of cheap rural land the Tennessee valley would be the perfect place for a new facility similar to say The Wilds.
I like the way you think. We need more facilities like The Wilds especially for undulate breeding and maybe as places for surplus animals.
Charlotte in North Carolina here in the United States... Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban in South Africa (although Durban does have the very small "Mitchell Park Zoo") All of these cities are over a million people and considering that Johannesburg and Pretoria both have very good zoos one would expect the others to have some as well.
Las Vegas has been mentioned numerous times as needing a zoo, especially now that the horrendous non-accredited place they had has closed.
There are plans for a major zoo being built for the west side of Charlotte,NC near the airport for 2015. You can google it online. I had been looking into purchasing land for one there until I found the plans :-(
Here is a similar thread, but this one focuses on cities around the world (including USA). Your thread seems to be focusing on US cities exclusively. http://www.zoochat.com/2/major-cities-without-zoos-27315/
Here is a recent article which makes it sound promising: Charlotte Man Reveals Plans for Local Zoo - myfoxcarolinas.com However, this has been going on for years and previous articles make it sound perhaps shady. Here is an entire ZooChat thread devoted to the topic: http://www.zoochat.com/22/new-major-zoo-built-117103/
Orange County, California has two small zoos but could use one major zoo I think. (The current Santa Ana is locked in five acres with no room to expand). Los Angeles, California has one fairly large zoo but needs a second zoo of at least similar size. Anyone who has been there on a weekend in nice weather knows that it gets crowded beyond carrying capacity (to the point of becoming miserable). Las Vegas, Nevada desperately needs one as we all agree. Flagstaff, Arizona could be a candidate for a nice modest zoo focusing on mountain or cold climate animals. Midland-Odessa, Texas could use one because they are hundreds of miles in either direction from the next major cities with zoos. Corpus Christi, Texas has a nice aquarium but no zoo. Spokane, Washington has a cat center (of dubious quality) but no zoo. Lancaster-Palmdale, California is a large high desert city with a cat center but no real zoo. Yuma, Arizona has a camel farm but no zoo and is hundreds of miles from the next nearest major cities with zoos. El Centro, California same situation as Yuma. I could go on and on...
Besides Yuma and Flagstaff, here are other places in my state of ARIZONA that could use one... Casa Grande is halfway between Tucson and Phoenix and is a growing community. I think it has a lot of families with children and would certainly benefit. Sierra Vista is in southern Arizona and is another growing family community. When I volunteered at Reid Park Zoo I would frequently meet families from Sierra Vista who made the long drive to Tucson just to visit the zoo. Sahuarita is a new community just south of Tucson. Although it is only about a half hour freeway drive to the southern tip of Tucson, it is comprised almost exclusively of young families with small children. (It was built and marketed specifically for this demographic). I think a small zoo with a nice childrens section would be very well received. Neither of the two zoos in Tucson has a childrens zoo.
A bit different to the theme of American cities. Manchester-the only major zoo nearby to Manchester is Chester zoo but that isn't even in manchester. Leeds-there is hardly any zoos in Yorkshire as it is.
The problem with Midland-Odessa is it is a very boom and bust place. With oil down to 60 per barrel it may start trending to Bust again soon.
Hong Kong a very rich city and should have a world class zoo like san diego zoo. I wish i can be the ceo of hk zoo in the future LOL
Hong Kong has a zoo, and a large walk-through bird aviary in addition to Ocean Park. The zoo is pretty small, is part of the botanical gardens and is free.
I know I'm late to the party here, but Dayton has an AZA accredited facility at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. I've never been there and from the website the zoo section doesn't appear to be very large and contains mostly North American species, but for a town of less than 150,000 people that's not bad. The city probably wouldn't be able to support a large collection, especially with two large zoos an hour away, which really isn't that far of a drive.
