Zoo Knoxville is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. In addition, it is voluntarily accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires an annual license for animal exhibitors, including zoos, which must demonstrate humane handling, housing, feeding and watering, sanitation, ventilation, shelter, and veterinary care for the animals. USDA field inspectors make periodic unannounced visits. Zoo Knoxville’s most recent inspection was February 6, and the inspector found zero “non-compliant” items, just as during the previous two inspections.

The TWRA is responsible for issuing permits to any business that keeps dangerous wildlife, and investigating any human deaths or injuries related to the animals. The permit for zoos is focused on ensuring the safety of the public, although it has animal safety aspects as well, such as requiring cleaning schedules for the areas where animals are kept.

A few months after an elephant keeper’s death in 2011, Zoo Knoxville took heat for its handling of an accident involving an animal and a visitor. Apparently, a camel got loose and a child was injured; the parent called 911 and when EMS responders arrived, the zoo wouldn’t let them in. (Zoo Knoxville Director Lisa New says zoo staff were searching for the family, who had moved away from the camel area.) Eventually the child was brought to the ambulance in the parking lot by his family.

New says a lot of confusion about the incident remains. Zoo staff never saw a camel get loose or anyone get hurt, and they stalled EMS only because they were trying to find and direct them to the injured child.

Since then, the zoo has since developed a closer working relationship with first responders, walking fire and police officials through the zoo and familiarizing them with all the gates. They have worked with 911 to have the zoo notified as soon as a call comes in from the zoo property, so zoo staff can help responders get to the injured person as quickly as possible. Zoo staff have also toured the 911 center, she says.

Walter Cook, captive wildlife coordinator for the TWRA, called Zoo Knoxville “extremely compliant.”

“They seem to always be ahead of the curve in terms of taking care of things before they become a problem,” says Cook, who has inspected the zoo since 1993.

For example, tiger enclosures must be 16 feet high, he says, but Zoo Knoxville added two more feet to its current tiger enclosure. When the zoo recently modified an enclosure to house rhinos, zoo officials called Cook to inspect the work in progress to make sure it met state standards. When the 2011 elephant keeper accident occurred, the zoo called Cook while the emergency responders were still there, so state wildlife officials could interview witnesses immediately.

“The city and county should be immensely proud of that facility,” says Cook. “They have some of the absolutely best people there in the world.”

Cook inspected the zoo April 14, when he also looked at Tiger Forest blueprints. He has suggested adjustments, which were made. When animal exhibits are being built or modified, Cook visits many times a year to check the plans and the quality of construction before and after the animals are moved to the area.

“Our program is the most comprehensive and restrictive in the country,” Cook says of Tennessee. “It has been used as a model by 26 states, three provinces, and Canada.”

Zoo Knoxville is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums every five years. Its accreditation was renewed last year. The process involves detailed documentation, an on-site inspection, and a formal hearing at which zoo officials are interviewed. The inspection team evaluates animal care (including social grouping, nourishment and enrichment), keeper training, education and veterinary programs, conservation efforts, financial stability, security and more. New is herself an inspector for AZA who evaluates other zoos.

The UT College of Veterinary Medicine has provided all the animals’ health care at Zoo Knoxville since the late 1970s in one of just five such partnerships in the U.S. The zoo touts that 32 of the nation’s exotic animal veterinarians have been trained at Zoo Knoxville.

Tricia Bateman

Dr. Edward Ramsay

“If you’re an animal, you either leave here with a health certificate or a necropsy,” says Dr. Edward Ramsay, who has been the lead vet for the zoo for 25 years. His clinic features a high-ceilinged room awash in natural light where a big animal like a lion to undergo surgery. (Huge animals like elephants and rhinos are treated in their own enclosures.) In an adjacent X-ray room, hanging films show the bones of a chuckwalla and a chinchilla, and the eggs inside a radiated tortoise. The clinic storeroom contains everything from darts to baby formula and diapers.

One day last month he was working on necropsies for a baby peccary, one of five abnormally large “pecclets” born after an accidental peccary pregnancy. (Three died, but it’s tough to pin down cause of death of a baby during the first 30 days, Ramsay says—and it’s not unusual. In the wild, young die at a fairly high rate.)

The two surviving peccaries were butting each other and skipping around their enclosure a few weeks later, a few days after the zoo announced the arrival of a healthy red wolf pup. The wolves, once found across the Southeast, have only one wild population, and that was released from zoos—exactly the sort of accomplishment they tout as their mission.

See Also: 

• Zoo Knoxville Unleashes a New Branding Campaign and an Ambitious Expansion Plan to Double Attendance

• Zoo Knoxville’s Elephant in the Room

• Photo Story: Monkeyin’ Around at Zoo Knoxville

S. Heather Duncan

S. Heather Duncan has won numerous awards for her feature writing and coverage of the environment, government, education, business and local history during her 15-year reporting career. Originally from Western North Carolina, Heather has worked for Radio Free Europe, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London, and several daily newspapers. Heather spent almost a dozen years at The Telegraph in Macon, Ga., where she spent most of her time covering the environment or writing project-investigations that provoked changes such as new laws related to day care and the protection of environmentally-sensitive lands. You can reach Heather at heather@knoxmercury.com