The Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium announced plans on Wednesday to construct a new giraffe habitat, with the goal of opening in May 2026.
Located in the African savanna section of the park, the current giraffe habitat is a quarter mile away from the barn where the animals stay at night.
That distance means it’s hard to bring the giraffes out in bad weather — so right now, the animals are rarely on exhibit.
Kansas City Zoo CEO Sean Putney says the new habitat will include both indoor and outdoor areas for year-round viewing. The larger complex will also add new restrooms and a new concession area.
“You know, when you have a mega vertebrate like giraffes that everybody loves, they wanna see them," Putney told KCUR's Up To Date. "They don’t want to come to the zoo and not see one of their favorite animals.
Visitors will be able to interact with and even feed the giraffes.
“They’re going to have a much closer view of them," Putney says. "Nose-to-nose is a bit much, it’ll probably be hand-to-nose.”
It'll be a better environment for the giraffes, as well.
"We're going to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 square feet inside for them to roam around," Putney says. "Even when it's cold outside, even when it's rainy outside, they'll still have plenty of space inside where they can stretch their legs."
"And again, people will be able to see them there. I'm not saying that what we have currently is poor, we're just making it better."
The new complex will be funded through a combination of private donations and the Zoological District sales tax passed by Jackson and Clay County voters.
- Sean Putney, CEO and executive director of the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium
