The Sequoia Park Zoo is a zoo located in

Eureka, California Eureka ( ; Wiyot: ; Hupa: ; ) is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco and south of the Oreg ...

, operated by the City of Eureka. The zoo is part of a larger park complex including of mature second-growth

coast redwood ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995: 606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coast ...

forest, Eureka's largest public playground, and a duck pond, in addition to formal and natural gardens. The gardens include many varieties of

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

. The zoo's mission is "to inspire wonder, understanding and respect for the natural world by providing fun, rewarding, educational experiences that encourage meaningful connections between animals, humans, and our environment". The zoo is open to the public daily, except in winter when it is closed on Mondays. The zoo houses about 200

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s and hundreds of

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s, representing about 54 different species on . Completed in 2021, the zoo unveiled the Redwood Sky Walk, the longest sky walk in the western United States at just under a quarter of a mile. The sky walk is ADA accessible, and allows visitors to walk over 100 feet above the forest floor.

History

Sequoia Park Zoo was founded in 1907. The zoo is located on the land of the native tribe of the

Wiyot people The Wiyot (Wiyot: Wíyot, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-'at xee-she or Wee-yan' Xee-she', Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne – "Mad River People", Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a small su ...

, who are a federally recognized tribe in California with over 600 members. The city of Eureka, where the zoo is located, is a city on Humboldt Bay, where the Wiyot tribe has lived for thousands of years. Since 1907, the zoo has housed an array of animals including large hoof-stock, exotic birds, and small mammals. The zoo achieved accreditation from the

Association of Zoos and Aquariums The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), originally the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA), is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1924 and dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aqu ...

(AZA) in 1995. Since accreditation the zoo has prioritized conservation, including

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 w ...

breeding programs and education programs. After 100 years of free entry, the zoo started charging admission in the summer of 2008. The zoo is partially supported by a foundation which operates a

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collection ...

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

and zoo facility for rentals in addition to fundraising and community outreach.

Collection

The zoo exhibits

brown-headed spider monkey The brown-headed spider monkey (''Ateles fusciceps fusciceps'') is a critically endangered subspecies of the black-headed spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in northwestern Ecuador. Its type locality is at 1500 m in the Hacienda C ...

s and white-handed gibbons. Joh-leen the white-handed gibbon died in 2019 of old age. Her partner Bono was moved to the Santa Barbara Zoo in February 2020 where he was partnered with a female widow. The zoo used to exhibit

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

s, one of which lived for fifty years at the zoo, dying at age 62. The zoo's "Barnyard" is an educational exhibit that teaches about where food comes from and interact with domesticated animals including:

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

s, red jungle-fowl,

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. Traditionally, alpacas were kept in herds that grazed on the level heights of the Andes of Southern Peru, Western Bolivia, Ecuador, and Northern Chile. More recentl ...

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

s, and a

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

. Non-interactive exhibits include

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...

, a

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure which houses honey bees, subgenus '' Apis.'' Honey bees live in the beehive, raising their young and producing honey as part of their seasonal cycle. Though the word ''beehive'' is used to describe the nest of ...

and

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s. Birds in the walk-in free-flight aviary include

scarlet ibis The scarlet ibis, sometimes called red ibis (''Eudocimus ruber''), is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae. It inhabits tropical South America and part of the Caribbean. In form, it resembles most of the other twenty-seven ex ...

, spotted whistling ducks, band-tailed pigeons, green heron, Guira cuckoos,

Nicobar pigeon The Nicobar pigeon or Nicobar dove (''Caloenas nicobarica'', Car: ') is a bird found on small islands and in coastal regions from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, east through the Indonesian Archipelago, to the Solomons and Palau. It is ...

s, grey parrots, California quails, and

Golden pheasant The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...

s. Sequoia Park Zoo's educational building is named "Secrets of the Forest", which features the animals and organisms in the

redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

. A number of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s and

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s species exhibited in the Secrets of the Forest building. More exotic animals include crested screamers,

Patagonian mara The Patagonian mara (''Dolichotis patagonum'') is a relatively large rodent in the mara genus ''Dolichotis''. It is also known as the Patagonian cavy or Patagonian hare. This herbivorous, somewhat rabbit-like animal is found in open and semiopen ...

s (cavies), Orinoco geese,

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

bush dog The bush dog (''Speothos venaticus'') is a canine found in Central and South America. In spite of its extensive range, it is very rare in most areas except in Suriname, Guyana and Peru; it was first described by Peter Wilhelm Lund from fossils ...

red panda 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 ...

Indian muntjac The Northern red muntjac (''Muntiacus vaginalis'') is a species of muntjac. It is found in numerous countries of south-central and southeast Asia. The northern red muntjac inhabits various forest types, from tropical rainforests to deciduous an ...

, yaks, Chacoan peccaries, and rheas. The Sequoia Park Zoo has received top honors from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) 2016 award for Exhibit Design (within zoos operating with a budget under $5 million) for watershed heroes.

Controversy

In 1982, Sequoia Park Zoo was home to a family of four black bears, two parents, and their two offspring. The bears lived in an old-fashioned metal bar exhibit. The local community raised money to build a modern bear exhibit. During the construction of the new exhibit, the two bear cubs were sent to live at the Woodland Wildlife Park in

Cave Junction, Oregon Cave Junction is a city in Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city got its name by virtue of its location at the junction of Redwood Highway ( U.S. Route 199) and Caves Highway ( Oregon Route 46). As of the 2020 census, the city popula ...

. The two adult bears were euthanized. Public reaction to the bears being euthanized was extremely negative, with protesters gathering and picketing in front of the zoo, and a petition calling for the zoo's closure gathered 5,000 signatures in the local community of 24,000. The incident received national media coverage. The zoo's director was subsequently replaced. In 2012, the zoo faced steep criticism because of its budget. The zoo's budget had doubled in size since 2002 while other departments within the City of Eureka had faced multimillion-dollar budget cuts in the same period of time. Closure of the zoo was proposed by multiple local media sources and by prominent local politicians.

Gallery

Nancy Hilfiker Aviary - December 2024 - Sarah Stierch 02.jpg, A

in the zoo's Nancy Hilfiker Aviary in December 2024.

References

External links