{"id":316852,"date":"2026-05-15T07:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/316852\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T07:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:22:21","slug":"fresno-zoo-to-close-historic-tropical-rainforest-aviary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/316852\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno zoo to close historic Tropical Rainforest Aviary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresno Chaffee Zoo<\/a> is closing one of its oldest attractions, ending a nearly 40-year run on an exhibit that invited \u201cnature lovers to take a walk on the wild side.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, wrote The Fresno Bee on the opening of the Tropical Rainforest Aviary<\/a> in 1988.<\/p>\n

The half-acre enclosure was designed with mesh roping, vines and tropical foliage meant to \u201ctake on the shadowy, surprise-at-every-turn characteristics of a real jungle,\u201d The Bee wrote. There was a suspension bride and skywalk, a waterfall and a population of animals that included hummingbirds (a whole exhibit\u2019s worth), plus \u201ctoucans, tanagers … iguanas, turtles and toads … and six golden lion tamarins,\u201d according to The Bee.<\/p>\n

What it didn\u2019t have: barriers separating the animals and humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs visitors tour the exhibit, they become part of the scene \u2014 like guests in someone\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the attraction was innovative at the time (second only to San Diego\u2019s Zoo tropical aviary), it \u201cno longer meets the Zoo\u2019s standards for welfare and safety of the birds,\u201d and is not a \u201cproper working environment for the staff,\u201d the zoo said in an update<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs animal care and building standards continue to evolve, it is important that our institution evolve with them,\u201d Zoo Director, Jon Forrest Dohlin said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rainforest has been a large part of the Zoo\u2019s history, and we recognize that guests have made many memories here,\u201d Dohlin said. \u201cWe want to give the people of Fresno a chance to say goodbye to this historic exhibit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The The entrance to the Tropical Rainforest Aviary is shown in an undated photo. The zoo announced that the aviary will close on July 5, 2026. It says it is outdated and no longer supports the needs of the animals. Fresno Chaffee Zoo FRESNO CHAFFEE ZOO The zoo\u2019s other immersive exhibitions<\/p>\n

The zoo has a tradition of creating immersive exhibitions, including its three most recent.<\/p>\n

It opened Sea Lion Cove<\/a>, with its 35-foot underwater viewing window and rock features modeled after Point Lobos, in 2012.<\/p>\n

That was followed by the savanna-themed African Adventure exhibit<\/a> (and its up-close views of elephants, lions and leopards) in 2015 and then the Kingdoms of Asia is 2024.<\/a> The entrance to that exhibit is a stonework ruin with a giant carved face and snakes and two tiger statues guarding the scene. It\u2019s based on the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia; part of a theme carried throughout the exhibit.<\/p>\n

The next planned exhibit, the \u201cPacific Rim Aquarium,\u201d will include a deep-sea virtual reality tour, tide pools, and an interactive sting ray petting experience.<\/p>\n

\"Michelle Michelle Bandy, zookeeper at the Chaffee Zoo, takes Hannibal, a military macaw, for a walk in the rainforest and chats along the way with visitors on April 10, 2008. MARK CROSSE The Fresno Bee \"Chaffee Chaffee Zoological Gardens and American Zoological and Aquarium Association representatives cross a bridge in the Rain Forest exhibit during a tour Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, in Fresno, CA. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com \"The The new indoor rainforest exhibit at Fresno Chaffee Zoo is shown March 5, 2009. The walk-through experience lets visitors can get close with a two-toed sloth, tortoise, frogs, lizards and birds at rainforest temperatures. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com \"The The Fresno Chaffee Zoo\u2019s Tropical Rainforest, first opened in May 1988, is closing July 5, 2026. FRESNO CHAFFEE ZOO
\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Joshua Tehee<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Joshua Tehee covers breaking news for The Fresno Bee, writing on a wide range of topics from police, politics and weather, to arts and entertainment in the Central Valley.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno Chaffee Zoo is closing one of its oldest attractions, ending a nearly 40-year run on an exhibit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-316852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}