Big Star To Headline the Zoo's Groundbreaking Ceremony on Nov. 30

Using his dexterous eight-foot trunk, this preeminent pachyderm will flip a shovel full of soil to signal the beginning of a construction project that will give the Zoo's elephants a new barn while upgrading and expanding the existing elephant and rhino exhibits. N.C. Zoo Director Dr. David Jones and N.C. Zoo Society Executive Director Russ Williams will attend the ceremony, too, along with local officials and many of the private donors whose gifts are funding the vast majority of the project. The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. The ceremonies signify the continuing success of an on-going Zoo Society campaign to raise $6 million for the planned exhibit complex, which will open in 2007 with a new name -- the “Watani Grasslands Reserve.” ("Watani" is Swahili for “native country” or “fatherland.”) When completed, the new complex will provide one of the world's largest and most technologically-advanced facilities for exhibiting and breeding elephants and rhinos. The Watani Grasslands Reserve will provide the elephants with a new 7-acre exhibit that will be fashioned from the existing elephant and rhino exhibits. The Zoo's rhinos will move into an improved 37-acre African Plains exhibit that they will share with herds of antelopes. The new complex will also provide the elephants with a new $2.5 million barn and will renovate the existing elephant/rhino barn to house future herds of rhinos. The updated facilities will accommodate state-of-the-art husbandry and veterinary care for the animals. The new holding and exhibit space will provide plenty of room for the Zoo to exhibit up to 10 elephants and 10 or more rhinos. The renovations will also add a new walkway that will jut between the future elephant and rhino exhibits, taking visitors in for a close up view. Planned educational and art additions will further enrich the visitors' learning opportunities. Private donors have provided most of the funding for the Watani Grasslands Reserve through gifts to the N.C. Zoo Society, a private non-profit organization that supports the Zoo. The November 30 ceremonies will recogize the contributions of these donors.