We have a beautiful zoo in Brevard County that is near and dear to my heart. Some of you may remember the old Houser's Zoo that came under fire in the early 80's as being one of the worst zoos in the country. This was a blow to dear old Mr. Houser who was at the time dealing with cancer and facing selling his orange groves where he housed the zoo. He had been saving animals ready to be euthanized when a circus or zoo didn't want them anymore because of their appearance.
Remember the chimp with one arm - yes, lost it by touching an electrical cord at his prior home. Mr. Houser gave him a home when no one else would. Remember Buckles the elephant chained all day and pacing back and forth in a little circular fence? She lost half an ear due to an injection gone wrong at her prior home. Mr. Houser took her in. The rocking and pacing was only because when zoo visitors were gone she was released to run in the orange groves and play, and just couldn't wait to get out there. I got involved and learned all this when my daughter's school took a trip there and she came home telling me she held a gibbon's hand for over an hour. That was Choo-Choo. If you heard her hoot you would understand the name. Apparently my daughter reminded Choo-Choo of Mr. Houser's own daughter who had helped raise her. There were lots of stories like that and a small band of about 20 people formed the Brevard Zoological Society to secure animals and get land for a bigger better zoo. That was actually the start of our new and wonderful local zoo. (I have all the history files.) The new zoo distances itself from that bad publicity (and thus all of us), but that's how it got started. And I love how far they have come.
It's one of my favorite photo resources for digital work. I encourage you to take a walk there with your camera. Or, buy a membership so you can go often and support it. Below are some of my digital images all taken at Brevard Zoo and also created to promote it.
