The Buttonwood Park Zoo, located in
New Bedford
New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...
,
is a zoo located in the center of
Buttonwood Park. Opened in 1894, it is the third-oldest zoo in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
and the 12th-oldest zoo in the United States.
Located on a campus, the zoo is owned and operated by the City of New Bedford, with the support of the Buttonwood Park Zoological Society. It is located on part of the
Buttonwood Park Historic District
Buttonwood Park Historic District is a historic district on Kempton Street, Rockdale Avenue, Hawthorne Street and Brownell Avenue in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Its focal point is Buttonwood Park, a municipal park planned by Charles Eliot in ...
, and federally-designated on the National Register of Historic Places.
The zoo is home to more 250 different animals made up of more than 80 different species of animals, including many that are rare and endangered. The zoo has played a vital role in the conservation of endangered animals and is a participant in the Cape Cod Stranding Network and
Species Survival Plan
The American Species Survival Plan or SSP program was developed in 1981 by the (American) Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums, most of which are threatened or endangered in the wi ...
.
History
Early years
The land that would be used as the site of the Buttonwood Park Zoo was purchased by the city of New Bedford in 1892.
In 1894, the Buttonwood Park Zoo was opened as a way to present New Bedford as a powerful and wealthy city. At the time of the zoo's founding, cities were not seen as world-class unless they had a zoo.
During the summer of its opening, the zoo consisted primarily of native animals including black bears, foxes and deer.
By 1912, the zoo expanded to include monkeys, elk and bison.
From 1935-1936, the
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...
, as part of President
Frank D. Roosevelt's New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
, renovated the black bear den at the zoo.
The back part of the stonewall, built by the PWA, in the bear den remains to this day.
In the early 1960s, the zoo began to acquire exotic animals such as
asian elephants
The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus '' Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the n ...
,
leopards
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...
,
lions
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...
and
wallabies
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...
.
The Greater New Bedford Zoological Society was founded in 1968. The organization's first project was to raise money to build a heated building.
The zoo haphazardly expanded and grew following the 1960s, but did not have comprehensive plans.
New Bedford hired a number of architectural firms to develop the zoo, but the city failed to implement the plans.
These challenges were accelerated by an economic recession in the 1990s.
As a result, the condition of the zoo deteriorated and the zoo was facing large fines from the federal government.
As part of a settlement with the federal government, the zoo agreed to close for renovations in 1995.
The zoo closed for renovations in November 1996 and reopened in 2000.
The zoo was re-accredited by the prestigious
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, is an American 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in ...
in 2003.
Recent years
The City of New Bedford owns and operates the zoo. The City of New Bedford funds staffing, operation, maintenance and capital improvements to facilities. Approximately $7,000,000 in Capital Improvement Program (CIP) bonds have been designated between 2014-2019 to update the facilities. Another $4,000,000 was funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2018 for further improvements.
Buttonwood Park Zoo was called "one of the finest small zoos in the United States" by the
American Zoo and Aquarium Association
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, is an American 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in ...
in 2003.
Exhibits and attractions
The zoo houses more than 250 animal species from around the world. Exhibits feature both domestic and wild animals.
The zoo has two asian elephants, Ruth and Emily.
Emily arrived to the zoo in 1968.
After being abused in a circus and abandoned in a trailer located in
Danvers, Ruth arrived to the zoo in 1986.
In 2013, the zoo announced that after the elephants die, it will not take in any other elephants to replace them, instead opting to get
greater one-horned rhinos as part of its master plan.
The exhibits are categorized into five main areas:
*
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
East (NAE): This section contains
black bears,
river otters,
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
s,
turkey vulture
The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus ''Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South ...
s,
bald eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
s, and a
coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...
.
*North America West (NAW): This section located beyond the entrance contains
bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
,
wild turkey
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...
s,
whitetail deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
,
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...
s,
Canadian lynx
The Canada lynx (''Lynx canadensis''), or Canadian lynx, is a medium-sized North American lynx that ranges across Alaska, Canada, and northern areas of the contiguous United States. It is characterized by its long, dense fur, triangular ears w ...
,
bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
s, and
common crows.
*Aquatics: This section contains
harbor seals
The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared se ...
,
shorebirds
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
, exhibits replicating a
salt marsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...
, a
kettlepond, and a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...
stream,
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
s,
snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
s, and
turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...
s.
*Rainforests, Rivers & Reefs: This indoor section contains animals from the tropical regions of Earth, like monkeys, birds, and reef fish.
*Elephants: This section contains the zoo's two
elephants
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and ...
, Ruth and Emily. Nerarby exhibits include
red pandas
The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzz ...
and
southern pudu
The southern pudu (''Pudu puda'', Mapudungun ''püdü'' or ''püdu'', es, pudú, ) is a species of South American deer native to the Andes of Chile and Argentina. It is found in high-altitude forests and is classified as Near Threatened in the ...
.
*Buttonwood Farm: This section contains 3
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s, 1
cow
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
, and 1
pig
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
.
Education
The Wildlife Education Center is an educational building at the heart of the zoo. It contains two classrooms which host educational programs and business and private meetings.
Events
Annual events at the zoo include "Boo at the Zoo", "Holiday Lights", "Cabin Fever Week", and "Spring Fling Week".
Other features
The North Woods Gift Store and Bear's Den Cafe are open daily.
Notes
External links
*
{{authority control
Buildings and structures in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Zoos in Massachusetts
1894 establishments in Massachusetts
Tourist attractions in Bristol County, Massachusetts
Tourist attractions in New Bedford, Massachusetts