Historic part of Fresno zoo is closing due to animal welfare, safety standards

Fresno Chaffee Zoo is closing one of its oldest attractions, ending a nearly 40-year run on an exhibit that invited “nature lovers to take a walk on the wild side.”

So, wrote The Fresno Bee on the opening of the Tropical Rainforest Aviary in 1988.

The half-acre enclosure was designed with mesh roping, vines and tropical foliage meant to “take on the shadowy, surprise-at-every-turn characteristics of a real jungle,” The Bee wrote. There was a suspension bride and skywalk, a waterfall and a population of animals that included hummingbirds (a whole exhibit’s worth), plus “toucans, tanagers ... iguanas, turtles and toads ... and six golden lion tamarins,” according to The Bee.

What it didn’t have: barriers separating the animals and humans.

“As visitors tour the exhibit, they become part of the scene — like guests in someone’s home.”

While the attraction was innovative at the time (second only to San Diego’s Zoo tropical aviary), it “no longer meets the Zoo’s standards for welfare and safety of the birds,” and is not a “proper working environment for the staff,” the zoo said in an update Thursday.

“As animal care and building standards continue to evolve, it is important that our institution evolve with them,” Zoo Director, Jon Forrest Dohlin said.

The aviary will close July 5 and the birds will be relocated to one of the other aviaries within the zoo, or be transferred to other institutions. The space will eventually reopen as a nonanimal experience, the zoo said.

“The Rainforest has been a large part of the Zoo’s history, and we recognize that guests have made many memories here,” Dohlin said. “We want to give the people of Fresno a chance to say goodbye to this historic exhibit.”

The zoo’s other immersive exhibitions

The zoo has a tradition of creating immersive exhibitions, including its three most recent.

It opened Sea Lion Cove, with its 35-foot underwater viewing window and rock features modeled after Point Lobos, in 2012.

That was followed by the savanna-themed African Adventure exhibit (and its up-close views of elephants, lions and leopards) in 2015 and then the Kingdoms of Asia is 2024. The entrance to that exhibit is a stonework ruin with a giant carved face and snakes and two tiger statues guarding the scene. It’s based on the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia; part of a theme carried throughout the exhibit.

The next planned exhibit, the “Pacific Rim Aquarium,” will include a deep-sea virtual reality tour, tide pools, and an interactive sting ray petting experience.