Milwaukee County Zoo to close Small Mammals Building at end of year; animals to find new homes

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee County Zoo announced Wednesday, June 11, the Small Mammals Building will close at the end of the year, because the building has outlived its prime when it comes to modernized animal care. 

The closure will allow the zoo to improve care in several other areas.

Executive Director Amos Morris told us, "If we're going to have them here, we want to take care of them at the highest level."

And that's just not happening anymore, according to Morris. He said, "In this building, the bats can't fly. There's not enough space."

Built in the 1960s, it's one of the zoo's original buildings.

But the way zoos house and care for animals has changed drastically in recent years. "We've moved from animal, animal, animal, animal to animal, [then a] big space to provide good wellbeing. They can do the behaviors that are normal to them," Morris said.

The zoo's two year strategic plan identifies ways to provide high levels of animal care and wellbeing.

Morris says closing the small mammals building will have a lot of benefits. "It benefits our zookeepers because we'll be able to move that team and spread them out and spread them out amongst the other areas which will provide those teams with more time to devote to animal care."

When the animals are moved, their food costs and expenses will be reallocated to other animal exhibits.

Over the next several months, the small mammals will be sent to other accredited zoos that can provide better wellbeing.

They will not be replaced, so guests will see an empty exhibit.

But Morris wants people to know why. "I want our guests to come into the zoo and feel good about where these animals are living their life."

The zoo has targeted three projects for the future: a new tropical building, an enhancement to the primate exhibit, and an enhancement for the elk and bears.

The tropical exhibit will go up where the small mammals are, and will include jaguars, porcupines, and bats.

The animals housed in the building include: 

• Ring-tailed lemurs
• Hoffmann’s two-toed sloths
• Dwarf mongooses
• Prehensile-tailed porcupines
• Cotton-top tamarins
• Bushbaby
• Fennec foxes
• Southern three-banded armadillos
• Straw-colored fruit bats
• Prevost’s squirrel

The zoo says though the animals are doing well, the building does not live up to the modernized standard needed to continue exceptional care. 

People are encouraged to visit the Small Mammals Building by the end of the year, before the animals will depart to new homes. 

Learn more about the closure here.