Naples Zoo Celebrates Fifty Wild Years
(Originally Published February 2004)
The year was 1954. RCA introduced the first color television to the country. Elvis Presley made his first commercial recording. An English runner broke the four-minute mile. And IBM had just entered the electronic computer market. And miles away from it all in our subtropical paradise, Caribbean Gardens first welcomed guests to its botanical wonders on February 12th. This year, the historical Naples zoological garden begins celebrating its fiftieth year as a Florida attraction.
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| A 13' golden python being held by dignitaries on the golden anniversary on February 12. Left to Right: County Commissioners Fred Coyle and Donna Fiala, City Council Clark Russell, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge manager Layne Hamilton, and Executive Director of the CVB Jack Wert. (The "golden" python is actually an amelanistic Burmese python. This color variation was first discovered in Thailand just over twenty years ago.) Photo: Brian Call |
Now fifty years in Florida is a long time, but the garden itself is even older. “Yes, there is a long history here,” states David Tetzlaff, the zoo's director. “Dr. Henry Nehrling founded the tropical garden back in 1919 making this year the site's 85th year as a botanical garden.”
The founder's great grandson, Richard Nehrling, expressed his gratitude on this celebratory day, “On behalf of the Nehrling family, we send our heartfelt congratulations on the Caribbean Gardens turning fifty on February 12, 2004. We wish to thank the Fleischmann and Tetzlaff families for preserving the gardens originally planted in 1919 by our grandfather Dr. Henry Nehrling. We know he would be so pleased to know folks still come so many years later to see his garden paradise. Thank you citizens of Naples for supporting the Caribbean Gardens and for helping to keep a dream alive."
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Zoo Director David Tetzlaff (left) with County Commissioner Fred Coyle at the 50th Anniversary vine cutting ceremony. |
Two decades after Nehrling's death, the gardens underwent restoration by Julius Fleischmann and opened to the public providing the current golden anniversary as an attraction. Fleischmann added even more plants and enhanced the botanical site with exotic birds and expanded it to include lakes and walking trails. And then in September 1969, Lawrence and Nancy Tetzlaff, also known as Jungle Larry and Safari Jane , introduced the zoological collection to the garden. So in addition to 85 years as a botanical garden and 50 years as an attraction, the site will also celebrate its 35th anniversary as a zoo this fall.
Along with all the history, zoo goers will find much changed if they haven't been to the zoo in the past few years. Since the institution's first accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) in 2001, Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens has been expanding its role in conservation. Locally, the zoo is participating in a number of Species Survival Plans® (SSP). Orchestrated by the AZA, the SSP program helps ensure the survival of selected wildlife species into the future and provides a link between zoo and aquarium animals and the conservation of their wild counterparts. In the wild, the Zoo supports a host of conservation projects from a rainforest education program in Peru to a restocking project with endangered lemurs in Madagascar and many others.
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| One of the Indochinese tigers at Tiger Forest. Photo: Larry Richardson |
“As an accredited zoo, we're able to offer guests an experience with some of the most extraordinary creatures in the world. At the Tiger Forest exhibit, guests can see the rarest tigers in America – Indochinese tigers. There are more states in America than there are Indochinese tigers in America . So it's an honor to be able to be part of their survival here in Naples,” Tetzlaff stated. This particular variety of tigers is the same kind some of the U.S. troops encountered in Viet Nam . Other species like the African wild dogs are also able to be cared for now because of the zoo's accreditation. With less than 5,000 of these colorful canines in the wild and only about 170 in the states, they're more endangered than tigers.
And while the zoo's exhibits keep expanding, so will their selection of guest activities. “For winter season of 2004, we're premiering two new presentations in the open air Safari Canyon theater,” said Tetzlaff. “One of those shows will be the first time in nearly 50 years that someone in my family will be working with venomous snakes. It's an exciting presentation. My father milked thousands of snakes during WWII to get the serum that was made into medicine, so it must be in my blood.” And as the zoo has been famous for its cats for years, the second show will feature predatory animals including some of those cats.
Learn more about visiting the zoo.