Rock Rapids, Iowa — One of the most popular features of Rock Rapids’ Island Park was lost in the flood of 2014. The Mini Zoo hosted several types of fowl including several pheasant species as well as turkeys, peacocks, and sometimes pigeons. It also held deer and waterfowl.
While they can’t promise the same types of animals, a new mini zoo is being planned. This time the Rock Rapids City Council plans to have it further from the flood plain. The council had decided to use the current open shelter house west of the swimming pool for the new Mini Zoo, and put a shelter house near where the old mini zoo was.
While that is still roughly the plan, Rock Rapids Mayor Jason Chase says now they are going to build two shelter houses.
Chase says the other new shelter house will be to replace a smaller one that was also taken out by the flood.
The mayor says building a shelter with bathroom facilities will help alleviate some bathroom congestion for campers. The only bathrooms currently are on the island and at the swimming pool, where the bathrooms each have a shower.
He says the new shelter will be closer to the pool than the old mini zoo was.
He says the bathroom/showers will be unisex. And in a throwback to the original shelter houses, the new ones have been designed with stone-wrapped pillars. And once the shelter houses are built, the new mini zoo can be developed.
