Rock Rapids, Iowa — The Mini Zoo in Rock Rapids’ Island Park was destroyed by last year’s flood. But according to mayor Jason Chase, there is a proposal in the works to build a new one in a slightly different location.
He says that besides the fact that the Mini Zoo building was rendered unusable by the flood, the people who are handling the Mini Zoo issue have come to another conclusion.
He says they have an unusual idea. There are two shelter houses west of the swimming pool — an enclosed shelter house to the south, and a steel-roof open shelter house to the north. They thought that perhaps they could re-purpose the open shelter house.
He says the present location of the Mini Zoo has always been in a bad place when the park floods.
Mayor Chase says it would also be more accessible to foot traffic.
He says feed storage could also be in the same building instead of a separate building, and a fenced-in area is proposed northwest of the proposed zoo, where animals could get out and run.
Chase says this plan is not set in stone yet.
He says they have some funding for the Mini Zoo through pledges, insurance, and a Lyon County Riverboat Foundation grant, but it might be a year or two before they could replace the open shelter where the Mini Zoo is now.
Also, the city continues to work on park improvement at Island Park through the park planning firm, “Confluence.”
If you’d like to donate to the project, if you have ideas, or you’d like to volunteer to be part of the Mini Zoo group, or help in any way, Chase says you can call the city office at 712-472-2553.
If your browser or device cannot access the audio players above, here are the direct links to the audio sound bytes:
