The Lehigh Valley Zoo is a zoo located in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It is located inside the Trexler Nature Preserve. The zoo is open year round. Lehigh Valley Zoo has been accredited by the

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 ...

(AZA) since March 2006.

History

CHRISTMASTIME AT THE ZOO NEAR SCHNECKSVILLE LEHIGH COUNTY

In 1906,

Harry Clay Trexler Henry Clay Trexler (April 17, 1854 – November 17, 1933) was an American industrialist, businessman, and major philanthropist who contributed to the economic development of Allentown, Pennsylvania and the surrounding Lehigh Valley in the late 19 ...

started purchasing farms in the Lowhill and North Whitehall townships of Pennsylvania to create a preserve to help protect bison, elk, and white-tailed deer. In all, he purchased 36 farms totaling before he died, and then bequeathed the land to Lehigh County. In 1935, the area officially became the Trexler-Lehigh County Game Preserve. Construction on the children's zoo within the park began in 1974. When it opened, the zoo included petting and feeding exhibits as well as exotic animals from Africa, Asia, and Australia. In 2004, since the original purpose of saving native species had been accomplished, the county opened the entire preserve to the public. At the same time, the Lehigh Valley Zoological Society took over management of the zoo within the park.

Conservation

In 2009, the zoo was participating in three

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 ...

s (SSP): African penguin,

mongoose lemur The mongoose lemur (''Eulemur mongoz'') is a small primate in the family Lemuridae, native to Madagascar and introduced to the Comoros Islands. These arboreal animals have pointed faces, long, bushy tails, dark-brown upper parts, pale bellies, a ...

, and

scimitar-horned oryx The scimitar oryx (''Oryx dammah''), also known as the scimitar-horned oryx and the Sahara oryx, is a ''Oryx'' species that was once widespread across North Africa. In 2000, it was declared extinct in the wild on the IUCN Red List. A captive br ...

Gallery

File:Lehigh Valley Zoo 01.JPG File:Lehigh Valley Zoo 06.JPG File:Lehigh Valley Zoo 07.JPG File:Lehigh Valley Zoo 10.JPG File:Lehigh Valley Zoo 03.JPG File:Grant's Zebra at Lehigh Valley Zoo.JPG,

Grant's zebra Grant's zebra (''Equus quagga boehmi'') is the smallest of the seven subspecies of the plains zebra. This subspecies represents the zebra form of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem and others across central Africa. Distribution This subspecies is dis ...

File:Dromedary camel at Lehigh Valley Zoo.JPG,

Dromedary The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius'' or ;), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel, or one-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate, of the genus ''Camelus'', with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three species of ...

camel File:Laughing Kookaburra at Lehigh Valley Zoo.JPG,

Laughing kookaburra The laughing kookaburra (''Dacelo novaeguineae'') is a bird in the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It is a large robust kingfisher with a whitish head and a brown eye-stripe. The upperparts are mostly dark brown but there is a mottled light ...

File:Dwarf crocodile in Lehigh Valley Zoo.JPG, Dwarf crocodile File:Mexican Gray Wolves in Lehigh Valley Zoo.JPG,

Mexican wolf The Mexican wolf (''Canis lupus baileyi''), also known as the lobo,; nah, Cuetlāchcoyōtl is a subspecies of gray wolf native to southeastern Arizona and southern New Mexico in the United States, and northern Mexico; it also previously rang ...

File:American bison at Lehigh Valley Zoo 01.JPG,

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply Bubalina, buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongs ...

File:Ostrich at Lehigh Valley Zoo 01.JPG,

Ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ...

Notes

External links

* * {{authority control 1974 establishments in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Zoos established in 1974 Zoos in Pennsylvania