Lions and tigers and bears — oh my! Venturing out into the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, guests can expect to see a wide range of wildlife from small insects and lizards to large elephants and monkeys swinging from the trees.
Beginning in 1953, the Caldwell Zoo was founded by DK Caldwell as a gift to the Tyler community, offering free daily admission to all who visited. The zoo now houses a variety of species of over 3,000 animals with accessible options to travel throughout the grounds seeing a large span of animals, Brand Director Paul Swen says.
“DK Caldwell and his wife never had kids, but they loved kids and they shared that love by allowing children to come to their home to see the animals,” Paul says. “After an incident where some vandals hurt some animals, the community all pitched in to raise money for the Caldwell family. They then used that money to purchase an elephant and decided to go forward with creating this zoo for the community.”
With an open concept, the zoo allows for animals to interact with one another like they would in the wild, Paul says. Guests are able to see animals with separation by moats, rather than large fences, which may block the view of little ones.
“The habitats are designed to have great views of the naturalistic, it looks like you're looking at an African Savannah,” Paul says. “It's very spacious, and one habitat opens to the other. In other words, you can see the giraffes and right near them are the elephants, which have a giant pool where they swim and take mud baths.”
The animals are also very interactive and will come up the edges of the enclosures to engage with zookeepers, who work with animals to develop a trusting and 22 May/June 2023 collaborative relationship, Paul says. This also allows for the zookeepers to be sure all the animals are healthy and well-maintained through daily exposures to their keepers.
“The keepers do a special type of training, which uses positive reinforcement to teach the animals behaviors that are helpful,” Paul says. “The keepers will bring them out and talk about different reptiles — there’s an African chameleon that they'll do live feedings with and even let you hold a cricket as the chameleon shoots out its tongue and takes the cricket from you.”
With so many animals on property, the zoo also has staff dedicated to ensuring that all the animals are properly fed, Paul says.
“Since almost every animal has a very specialized diet that comes from decades of research on what different animals needs and what ratios are, the zoo has a commissary staff that creates custom meals for the animals each day,” Paul says. “Different fish are flown in for the penguins and the otters, then there's mealworms, and crickets and all sorts of creepy crawlies for a lot of the reptiles and tortoises, there's also fresh fruit and vegetables, all prepared twice a day, every single day.”
Visitors in the spring and summer can expect to see some young animals who were recently born out-and-about with their animal families, Paul says.
Those who want to add some extra pizazz to their visit can book animal encounters with a variety of options such as penguins, tortoises and black bears. These encounters allow guests to have a behind-thescenes experience with the animals and their keepers as they learn more about the species, Paul says.
“We have a bear encounter with the black bears, which are huge — one of them weighs close to 500 pounds," Paul says. "For that encounter, you go behind the habitat and the bears will come right up to the fencing and then you get to feed them their favorite snacks like grapes and blueberries."
The zoo also serves as an active leader in the world conservation program helping to keep animals from becoming extinct. The zoo works with a variety of programs to keep animals such as cheetahs and Texas horned lizards, among others, Paul says.
“The Caldwell Zoo, believe it or not, is one of the top 10 African cheetah breeding facilities in the world. The zoo is a member of the Cheetah Breeding Coalition, which protects animals when they're endangered in hopes of releasing them in different protected areas,” Paul says. “Zoos collectively work together to find breeding partners for animals from around the world and ensure babies are safe and healthy.”
The Caldwell Zoo is located at 2203 W. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Tyler and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information or to get tickets, visit caldwellzoo.org or call (903) 593-0121.
