Check out new Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo before it opens

Check out new Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo before it opens
The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is offering a unique opportunity to get a look at its brand new $16 million home on County Rd. 6 (20499 Oak Road East) during the Nov. 2 Animal Art Safari from 7-10 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person and dress is Island cocktail attire for the event to be held at spacious Savannah Manor. Only 300 ticket available.
Animal art pieces (original works of art created by zoo animals) will be available for purchase through a silent auction and select pieces will be auctioned live. All proceeds from the event will go toward the acquisition of two giraffes for the new zoo.
VIP sponsorships are $500 and include a private pre-party reception, swag bag, two event tickets, art preview and a guided tour of the zoo. All tickets include gourmet international fare from Chef Greg Buschmohle, a full bar and entertainment from Platinum Duo.
The main attraction at the first event at the zoo’s new location (20499 Oak Road East) is the chance to get a sneak peak of the new location before it opens to the pubic later this year. For more info, visit alabamagulfcoastzoo. com.
The zoo will remain in operation in its current downtown Gulf Shores location through at least Thanksgiving. The new zoo grand opening and all the surrounding fanfare such a project deserves, will be held sometime in early 2020, which will give the nearly 500 animals that will make the seven mile journey to their new home plenty of time to get acclimated before receiving visitors. The new 25-acre zoo is funded through a construction bond. Groundbreaking was March 13, 2018.
Among the new zoo’s highlights: In the center of the new zoo, visitors will be able to ride through zebra- and tiger-striped safari cars guided through the area on a track. A moat surrounding a new reptile house will house one are of the zoo’s most famous residents, Chuckie, the 12-foot alligator. Chuckie became an international star for a few days after Hurricane Ivan when he went in the marshes of Gulf Shores.
The Outback will also be home to Adventure Mountain, a kids’ playground perched up on a hill overlooking the zoo. A boardwalk connects the Africa area to the Americas and crosses over a wooded area that will be home to the zoo’s timber wolves. The area represents Central, South and North America and will include a pool and stream system for capybaras, the world’s largest rodent.
One of the primary missions of the zoo will be environmental education and making visitors be more aware and sensitive of the natural world around them. One building attached to the giraffe feeding stand will include an extensive collection of butterflies and moths donated to the zoo by Mobile resident Dirk Baird.
The zoo includes three stages, including one under a 6,000-square-foot pavilion that will host a daily animal