Gladys Porter Zoo Needs a New Home

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

It breaks my heart to see friends posting vacation pictures on Facebook showing them visiting zoos in San Antonio and Houston. I would always scratch my heart and wonder why they'd go out of their way to visit a zoo when we have a zoo here in town.

After looking into the way out zoo is maintained, I can't say I blame them.

The Gladys Porter Zoo is in a sad state of disrepair. Built in 1971, it was once the crown jewel of Brownsville's tourist industry. One of the advantages to the Gladys Porter Zoo is the animals are not caged up in tiny, metal barred cells. Animals are able to roam free, or as free as an animal in captivity can roam short of being in a wildlife preserve.

The problem is the zoo is definitely showing its age. Several of the glass windows separating the animal habitats from the public are cracked and in need of repair.

However, the biggest problem with the zoo is space. There is little, to no, room for expansion. The zoo is surrounded by residential areas in two sides, the Fine Arts Museum and Linear Park on the other, and Dean Porter Park and BISD property across the street.

Brownsville should strongly consider relocating Gladys Porter Zoo to a new location. A good location for a new zoo would be where a theme park was planned across Mexico Boulevard from the old Amigoland Mall. There's plenty of land and there'd be plenty of room for parking.

Building the new Gladys Porter Zoo in the area would breathe new life into the area, once one of Brownsville's busiest. The train no longer cuts across Palm Boulevard — traffic congestion wouldn't be an issue.

If the area across from Amigoland isn't viable, maybe a larger spot could be found off the expressway. The new zoo wouldn't have to be built off Mexico Boulevard, but building it there would only relocate the zoo by a couple of miles.

More space could bring more animals, including elephants and polar bears, which no longer live at Gladys Porter. 

Brownsville has a lot to offer tourists. Our proximity to South Padre Island, birding centers and nature preserves, and authentic Mexican culture and food bring scores if Winter Texans and visitors to the area. Building a new zoo would just increase the tourism dollars.

The city could be so much more than it is now. A new zoo would help continue moving Brownsville forward.

Let's help keep those tourism dollars here in town.

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