It’s going to be fantastic,” Amarillo Zoo & Sanctuary volunteer Pat Diggs says. “It’s a happy place.”
On a muggy June afternoon with much-needed rain clouds developing on the horizon, Diggs, a retired teacher, is riding an electric scooter up and down the Zoo’s walking paths. She’s been talking to visitors while handing out water to the hard-working staff and other volunteers.
Diggs stops near the spider monkey enclosure, where Monji and Malibu have just emerged to test out their new climbing ropes. Diggs watches them before answering a question about her role.
“I like to talk to the people. I like to hear what they’ll tell me that they don’t tell to other people,” she explains. Unofficially, she’s operating in the role of something like “Guest Relations Liaison” or “Visitor Engagement Specialist.” Here’s what she does: When zoo visitors offer feedback, good or bad, Diggs writes it down and then reports it to the staff. They want feedback. They want to improve.
“The workers here are just so passionate,” Diggs says.
A longtime volunteer for Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Diggs is very clearly having a wonderful time in this specific new habitat. “Listen, I wouldn’t waste my time being out here if I didn’t love it and what Stephanie is doing,” she adds.
“Stephanie” is Stephanie Brady, the founder and executive director of Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and, as of a long-term lease arrangement this spring with the City of Amarillo, the director of a new nonprofit Amarillo Zoo & Sanctuary.
The city zoo originally opened in 1955 in Thompson Park. For decades, it was managed by the City of Amarillo’s Parks and Recreation Department, until city officials came to Brady with an idea. Last fall, she presented a plan to the Amarillo City Council to begin operating the Zoo as a nonprofit, which would open up funding opportunities and growth.
The animals at the Zoo were in good shape. The zookeepers were competent and caring. But finances had always been an issue. Was a nonprofit model a better solution than a municipal zoo with a shoestring budget?
The Council decided the answer was yes, and the handover happened in April. The City kept ownership of the property, and Amarillo Zoo & Sanctuary—which is a separate nonprofit from Wild West, though Brady heads up both—would handle day-to-day operations, development and programming.
Brady entered the agreement with a bold vision and the support of her passionate volunteers. Several former Zoo staff members stayed on and were given new positions with the nonprofit. The Zoo closed for the month of April while her team went to work making a series of renovations, some ongoing.
They cleaned out the monkey enclosure, starting with an especially sludgy moat. They added new climbing ropes. The gift shop received concessions and a major update. Bathrooms and enclosures got a deep clean, a few creatures were moved to new habitats within the Zoo, and students from Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine came in to evaluate certain animals. Local businesses began to donate supplies and services. (Brady points out that businesses of any size are much more willing to give to a nonprofit zoo than one managed by a municipality.)
“A lot of good changes,” says zookeeper Ryan Bean, who had dreamed of this career since he was 5. He was one of the zookeepers who stayed on during the transition. “Everyone wants to be here now. Everyone is coming to work with a smile on their face, showing up early, staying late because Stephanie is doing everything she can for us and the animals, which makes us appreciate our jobs more than anything. I’m really happy. We’re all really happy.” 
When Brick & Elm visited the Zoo, the vibe shift was clear. Beyond the visual improvement of some of the habitats, we also saw an excitement among the employees, among the thousands of visitors who have rediscovered the Zoo since the transition, and—it’s possible we’re interpreting this wrong, but nevertheless—among the animals themselves. The monkeys were out and active. The coyotes could be heard yipping across the facility. The longhorns were munching on hay. The black bears were out, excited at the arrival of a zookeeper, photographer, and magazine publishers because, well, it might mean food is on the way.
Only the sloth, who was napping happily in her new habitat, seemed disinterested in the changes.
“We owe it to the animals first to make sure they’ve got all the care they need, that we’re up to date on that before we put something new and flashy in,” Brady says. She’s been highlighting almost every part of the transition, good and bad, on social media. “Transparency has probably been the biggest thing. We’re listening to the feedback and it’s been great.”
She and her team guided Brick & Elm through what has changed at the Zoo, and what might be on the horizon.
Spider Monkeys
Spider MonkeysVisible immediately upon entering the facility, the monkey enclosure got a lot of attention in the days after the transition. The two monkeys that remain, Monji and Malibu, are 35 and 37 years old and entering their later years. (A spider monkey lifespan is less than 25 years in the wild but can reach 50 years in zoos or sanctuaries.) Brady and her team changed ropes almost immediately, replacing the splintery older ones with bright orange mountain-climbing ropes designed to absorb a lot of energy. “They’re older monkeys, but they’re on the ropes all the time now,” Brady says. “They weren’t using them before.”
Her team added other enrichment items, including a hammock. Those were easy changes. Cleaning the moat was much more of a chore. She and several volunteers ended up knee deep in the sludgy water—Brady doesn’t elaborate but describes the process as “gross”—but were able to return it to transparency. “You can now see all the way through the water,” she adds. The team has established “Moat Maintenance Mondays” to help it stay as clean as possible. Donors have provided skimmers and an ultraviolet sterilizer light to help reduce algae. Bomb City Pool Care helped install a new sand filter for the water.
“They’re much more active and happy, which we love,” she says of the monkeys. “They still poop in the water, but if we do cleaning regularly, it’ll be fine.”
Two-Toed Sloth
Reaux, the female two-tied sloth, had arrived at the Zoo in 2024 but didn’t have an ideal enclosure. Amarillo Zoo & Sanctuary moved her into the reptile building, which includes a glassed-in central column that gives Reaux vertical space to climb. This had previously been a habitat for a ball python that didn’t need quite as much climbing room. Zookeepers carefully monitor the temperature and humidity, which can affect a sloth’s gut biome.
Reaux eats leaves from hackberry branches and a lot of greens, including lettuce and zucchini donated from the United Supermarkets on Gem Lake Road. Often, these vegetables are older but still very edible. They need to be replaced by new inventory at the store, or may have minor cosmetic defects. The animals don’t care. “We go in the morning, pick up our boxes and bring them in,” Brady says. Donations like these save money and provide good nutrition.
“She is doing really, really well in there,” Brady says.
Reaux, who sleeps much of the day, seemed about as relaxed as a sloth can be.
Black Bears
Amarillo Zoo & Sanctuary is home to three bears: Oyster (the largest and a male), Truffles (a female, Oyster’s twin) and Mesa (a more introverted female). At 5, Mesa is the oldest, but none of the
bears are fully grown. They enjoy daily buckets of greens, fruits and vegetables, along with protein options including fish.
The bear exhibit has been getting the most recent attention. In June, Scouting America Troop 87 put in multiple days of effort to improve the bear habitat. They built a bridge over the upper bear pond and removed four truckloads of debris. Not long after that, the West Plains Lions Club power-washed the ponds, which will allow Brady and her team to seal them. Meanwhile, she has applied for grants and hopes to add a waterfall feature, and raise the fence.
“The bear exhibit is my biggest concern,” Brady says. That concern is less for safety reasons than for the comfort of the bears themselves. “A lot of people like to hot-rod their cars up and down [the street] in this area. It’s very loud and stressful to the bears.” If the grants come through, she intends to build a taller, noise-dampening wall in the loudest corner, adding a waterfall that adds a protective white noise element to the exhibit.
They’re also hoping the bears’ private concrete enclosure—where the shy Mesa likes to hang out—can be beautified at some point with work created by an artist with the Hoodoo Mural Festival.
Even with all the community efforts to clean up the bears’ pools, senior zookeeper Kenna Wright says visitors should expect occasional murky water in the bear habitat. “Truffles absolutely loves to go swimming, then roll around in the dirt,” she says. After that, Truffles likes to take another refreshing dip. The Zoo regularly cleans and refreshes their water. The planned waterfall feature will help.
African Lions
Sadly, two of the Zoo’s three lions have died over the past few years. All were siblings. Solomon died in 2025 at the age of 20. Sarai died of natural causes earlier this spring, also at 20 years old. That leaves the geriatric lioness Sheba, also 20, who is living out her retirement years with plenty of naps. Each of the siblings outlasted the typical 15- to 18-year captivity lifespan of lions. They came to the Zoo from the Tiger King’s Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park when they were just 6 months old and quickly became favorites of visitors. At the time of their deaths, Solomon and Sarai were among the oldest African lions under human care in the U.S.
Sheba is doing better than expected after the loss of her siblings, says Kenna Wright, the zookeeper in charge of the big cats. For younger lions, a zoo might try to reintroduce a companion, but Sheba is too old. “It could cause her a lot of unnecessary stress and we don’t want to do that to her. Big cats don’t really do well under a lot of stress,” she says.
Some zookeepers might be afraid to play favorites, but Wright has no hesitations. “She is my favorite of every single animal here,” she says about Sheba, who is most active in the mornings and eats an 8-pound block of meat for every meal. “She’s my big baby. She’s a gorgeous girl.”
Black Jaguar
Bagheera, the popular 11-year-old black jaguar, is another Zoo resident waiting on a habitat upgrade. His favorite sleeping spot is at the top of his pond, but the pond itself is currently non-functional due to a leak that was in the process of repair during our visit. (Amarillo Land Services is donating the repair work.) Wright describes Bagheera as one of the smartest animals at the Zoo. “He is the most ornery cat we have here in the whole facility,” she says. “He gives me a run for my money every day.”
Wright and her fellow zookeepers work hard to give Bagheera enrichment activities, like a scented ball, to keep him entertained—at least when he’s not lounging.
Bobcats
“All five of them, if I could watch any animal for an entire day, I’d just pull up a chair and watch them. They’re very active, all day, every day,” Wright says of the bobcats. Only one, Veda, is a female. Bengal, Huckleberry, Meep and Hampton are all males.
Red Foxes
Slinky (male) and Otto (female) are a bonded pair. Frost is a black-phase red fox, whose genetic variation was bred into him for the fur trade. The six total foxes at the Zoo originated at a fur and urine farm in Ohio, which was the subject of a bust after state officials found it to be in violation of anti-cruelty regulations. “Now they get to live out the best of their lives here,” Wright says.
Gray foxes are common in and around Amarillo, including in residential neighborhoods, but these animals are much bigger. The area near their habitat has a distinct musky smell, an odor the foxes use to mark their territories.
African Crested Porcupine
Wei, the Zoo’s African Crested Porcupine, gets a lot of attention for her rigid black-and-white quills. She weighs nearly 50 pounds but Wright says she’s a sweetheart. “She’s not aggressive. If I spook her, she’ll just flare [her quills] at me and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry I scared you. I apologize.’ She’s such a sweet girl.”
Prairie Dogs
The black-tailed prairie dogs Remy and Nubbs are education ambassadors at the Zoo and kept in an area where zookeepers and other staff allow them, along with a few reptiles and other creatures, to interact with visitors. “We know they’re safe,” Brady says. If a zookeeper hears a young zoo visitor talking about snakes, for instance, they might grab one of these animals for a hands-on show-and-tell session.
Remy was a Wild West rescue, discovered after he’d been left in a bathtub at the Big Texan Hotel, probably as someone’s pet. Nubbs, who arrived at the Rescue with an injured leg, only has three legs now. He also has an allergy to dust and dirt, so the two prairie dogs live in a specialized habitat. Remy doesn’t mind the lack of dirt.
Axolotl
Found only in lakes around Mexico City, this axolotl is a new addition to the Zoo courtesy of a donation to Wild West. “We brought it out here because we wanted to do Minecraft Day with the kids,” Brady says. “If they love Minecraft, they love the axolotl.”
Interestingly, the aquatic creature was added to the popular game Minecraft in order to raise awareness for this critically endangered species, and became wildly popular as a result. They are famous for being able to regenerate lost limbs.
Solomon Mural
The zoo’s gift shop has been updated and restocked with inventory. It also includes a new mural painted by Wild West volunteer Shirley Cole. The painting honors Solomon, the African lion that died this past year at the age of 20.
Texas Longhorns and Bison
One of the first changes Brady and her team made was to begin giving the livestock round bales of hay rather than smaller square bales. For large, grazing animals, round bales offer superior nutrition, multiple types of grass, and a more natural feeding surface. They allow the animals to pull hay as needed throughout the day. “We give it to them free choice, [so] it gives them the option to go and eat whenever they want to,” Wright adds. “They’re not going to be sold for beef, so we just want to fatten them up so they’re living their healthiest lives.”
The bison and longhorns both seem to love the bales. A popular reel on the Zoo’s Instagram page shows the longhorns actually appearing to play with it, using their horns to toss the loose hay around—which Brady described as “hay zoomies.”
