Hiya, Asheville. One of the things I’ve always depended on when the world gets to be too much for me is animals. While I am fortunate enough to share my life with two big rescued pitbulls, I also take a lot of comfort in watching animals, online or in real time. My daughter and I have enjoyed a few dates at the WNC Nature Center, and she loved Wild at Home, the new educational video series they launched earlier this week.

That got me to thinking about what came before the WNC Nature Center: the Asheville Zoo. (Big bonus points to you if you also sang it like ODB sang Brooklyn Zoo). In honor of the healing power of animals and #WayBackWednesday, let’s take a look back at the Asheville Zoo.

Natives + longtime Asheville residents probably remember the original Asheville Zoo, which predates the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. Launched in 1925, it was located on the grounds where the Nature Center stands today and lasted until 1973.

The Asheville Zoo was part of a larger park owned by the city that featured a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and swimming pool. Back then, it housed native wildlife, like squirrels, bears, and deer, as well as decidedly non-native critters like lions, monkeys, and elephants. This alluring combination of both commonplace + exotic animals drew more than 350,000 people to the zoo in 1939.

Despite its popularity, financial hardships drove the Asheville Zoo to halt operations, sell most of its animals to other zoos, and release the native species back into the wild. Following the end of WWII, the zoo reopened in 1959 to renewed fanfare, thanks to creatures like Henrietta the elephant and Minnie the black bear, who was so homesick for her home at the zoo that returned to there after she was released near Mount Mitchell.

Throughout the 60s, the zoo continued to expand, but by the early 70s, the zoo’s conditions + overall treatment of the animals drew a lot of public criticism. In fact, in 1973, things were so dire that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommended it close. As a result, the Junior League of Asheville launched a campaign to modernize + overhaul the zoo.

By 1974, it had become the Western North Carolina Zoological Society, the basis of what we today know as the Friends of the WNC Nature Center. Its mission remains the same: to educate the public about the natural history, fauna + flora of the Southern Appalachians and to develop public responsibility for its conservation. It is home to 60+ species of domestic and wild animals, as well as hundreds of plant species which highlight and showcase the unique biodiversity of the Southern Appalachians we are lucky enough to call home. And the animals in the care of the Center are pretty lucky, too. If they can’t live out in the wild, they enjoy the next best thing: love and care from folks who are committed to wildlife rehabilitation.

If you’re able, you can still support the Nature Center and its mission while its doors are temporarily closed. Find out how here.

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