Also, a master plan was finalized in 2014. The ultimate goals of the plan are to build "winter-proof" year round exhibits, so that animals and people can be at the zoo all year. (The zoo is only open May-September right now). The elk, wolf, and the 2013 otter exhibit are already completed, and the eagle exhibit will be new this year. More details here: Master Plan for the Oshkosh Zoo
Updates from my visit yesterday: Chironomus plumosus! The great Winnebago Lake Fly has begun. Don't visit this zoo for the next week or so. The wild birds loved it, though. For the first time ever, I saw the otters swimming. The wolves were also out. No progress on the Bald Eagle exhibit construction. No obvious renovations to the elk exhibit. The Japanese Macaques were gone. Their exhibit is now occupied by a pair of Ring-Tailed Lemurs. The African Spurred Tortoise exhibit renovations are done. Unfortunately, it made the exhibit much more barren. There is a new exhibit (view through the same window) for a Russian Tortoise. There are three new exhibits. They are in the same building as the tortoises and, like their exhibits, viewed from the outside. One contains two Long-Tailed Chinchillas, one contains a Blue-And-Yellow Macaw, and one is empty. The male Rio Grande Wild Turkey was displaying. The male Ring-Necked Pheasant looked beautiful. The Striped Skunk is gone. It's exhibit is now occupied by two White-Nosed Coatis (signed as South American Coatis). The Patagonian Cavies are gone. Their exhibit is now occupied by a Bobcat.
Sienna, a 16-year old grey wolf had to be euthanized due to kidney failure. Menominee Park Zoo loses Sienna the wolf
Updates from my visit today: Apparently, after the death of Sienna, the zoo only has one wolf left. The is now a random taxidermy Virginia Opossum in the elk viewing cabin. I found where the skunk went. Two of them now occupy the previously empty exhibit between the chinchilla and the macaw. Dash the African Spurred Tortoise was off-exhibit. No progress on the Bald Eagle aviary.
Finally some news on the Bald Eagle exhibit, construction at the Menominee Park and Zoo is underway. The exhibit will be home to birds that were once injured, rescued and rehabilitated and not able to be re-released, although the design drawings seem to have a covered-top aviary. No word on when this project will be completed or opened, but I'm assuming at the zoo's next season in early May 2020.
I decided to drive around the park today, just to enjoy the nice weather, and I noticed a lot of work had been done on the new Eagle exhibit. It still looks like there is a good amount of work to be done, trees and perches need to be added and the mesh is only covering half of it. My guess would be it opens very late this summer, or even next year. I put some pics of it in the media section if anyone would like to take a look.
The zoo's last Gray Wolf, Thunder has died. Thunder, the oldest and only gray wolf left at the Menominee Park Zoo, has died at age 17 The zoo will soon be obtaining a new pack of three wolves from a zoo in Michigan.
Updates from my visit today: There is a limit of 20 people in the zoo at a time. This is much too small, I had to wait in line for 20 minutes to get into the zoo. The new wolves are here, I saw one. The Bald Eagle aviary looks to be almost done. The framing is up and the wire is almost completed. The Ring-tailed Lemurs are gone and have been replaced with a single albino Northern Raccoon. The female Indian Peafowl, Ring-necked Pheasant, and Rio Grande Turkey are all gone, but the males are still there. The White-nosed Coatis are gone and have been replaced by a single American Badger. The Bobcat was gone and has been replaced by two Red Foxes. Dash the African Spurred Tortoise now freely roams the zoo.
Here's an article from about 10 days ago about zoo events and some of the animals it has this year, as well as the zoo is celebrating 75 years of operation this year: Celebrating 75 years with the Menominee Park Zoo in Oshkosh | WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton Most of the information comes from the 2 videos included in the article.
Updates from my visit today: I saw the eagle aviary! It's fine, nothing special but not amazing. It reminds me of the Rescue Roost at Toledo. The elevated path behind is closed, presumably to help the eagle get used to its new environment. The horse/donkey exhibit was empty. I saw an otter active for the first time ever (at MPZ anyway). The female Rio Grande Wild Turkey and female Indian Peafowl are both gone. The Striped Skunks have a new outdoor exhibit, it's much better than the indoor one (which is terrible) but is still not very good. It looks like the macaw might use it in warmer weather, as well. The Red Fox appears to be in a either a completely new or heavily renovated exhibit, it's much better than the old one. A Domestic Sheep was born.
Updates from my visit today: The horse and donkey are back. The female peafowl is back but has moved in with the Turkey Vulture rather than the male peafowl. The skunks are back indoors. Both macaw exhibits were empty, I assume the macaw is still around bts but I don't know for sure. The badger was active and calling.
I drove past this Zoo a couple weeks ago, and while I couldn’t go in due to it being closed for the season, I was able to see a couple things while driving around the perimeter. Most notable were the elk and the new bald eagle habitat. With the latter, it was hard to properly see due to both me driving along and the enclosure being set a ways away. From what I could tell though, it looked to be a great size and height, and the perches and landscaping seemed decent. I’m happy to see some progress a little over five years after my 2016 visit. As I’ve mentioned before, this Zoo has strong potential if they follow their current master plan, especially going off of the wolf, elk, and now eagle habitats.
I drove by the zoo recently. Signs were up saying a bear and fox exhibit was going to open next year. This should complete the North Highlands Forest complex as outline in the master plan, just swapping Bobcat out for Red Fox instead.
Construction on the bear and fox exhibits are well underway. No badgers at the zoo anymore, their exhibit is now an outdoor area for the skunks.
