The Peoria Zoo passed inspection to keep the facility accredited with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
In early June, inspectors from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) visited the zoo to monitor everything from the quality of animal care to the ticketing procedures, buildings, food, employees and more.
Director Max Lakes says the organization goes through zoos with a “fine tooth comb.”
“The big thing is conservation. That’s what we’re in this for,” he said. “We are a mission-oriented institution and doing our best to protect the animals, both in our care and in the wild, is core to what we do.”
Being a part of the AZA allows the Peoria Zoo to work with 252 other institutions around the country. Zoos coordinate on conservation efforts like Species Survival Plans, which enable facilities to get new animals without taking from dwindling wild populations.
“I have friends who have worked with different species for 50 years and being able to call them up and them knowing that we are an AZA institution and doing our very best to provide everything we can for our animals and our community, and get that information that you wouldn’t normally get if you were just a solo institution, it’s just amazing,” said Lakes.
The zoo also made some improvements on their own campus for the inspection. In 2023, the AZA had noted they would like to see outdoor enclosures for monkeys in the aging Tropics building. The building, originally built in the 1950’s, hosts an array of primates.
“There is an outdoor habitat that has been built,” said Lakes. “We have overhead chutes that run from the black-handed spider monkey indoor habitat to a really nice outdoor habitat. And we also went a step further and added on a chute for our ring-tailed lemurs.”
Lakes says the AZA’s inspection committee was “ecstatic” with the fixes to the monkey’s habitat during a review at an annual conference. He also says the zoo’s plans for the future are already well in line with the AZA’s goals.
“What that means is, you know, for me being not even quite five months into my tenure, is learning what the Peoria community wants from the zoo, how we can best serve the community and what we can provide in the future to make sure that everybody that walks through those gates is having a good time,” Lakes said.
