The Ellen Trout Zoo is a small zoo founded by Walter Trout in 1967 and located in Lufkin, Texas

Lufkin, Texas

Lufkin is a city in Angelina County, Texas, United States. Founded in 1882, the population was 35,067 in 2010. It is the county seat of Angelina County, and is situated in Deep East Texas.-History:...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is owned and operated by the City of Lufkin, with Friends of Ellen Trout Zoo (F.O.E.T.Z.) (a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization) supporting it with funding for major expansion and renovation projects in the Zoo's master plan.

The Ellen Trout Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Association of Zoos and Aquariums

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.The AZA headquarters is located in Silver...

 (AZA). The zoo participates in several Species Survival Plan

Species Survival Plan

The American Species Survival Plan or SSP program was developed in 1981 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums, most of which are threatened or endangered in the wild....

s (SSP) including tigers, rhino

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....

s, Bali mynah, and cotton-top tamarin..

History

In 1965, Lufkin Industries President, Walter Trout, received a 500 pounds (226.8 kg) Hippopotamus as a Christmas present. The hippo was boarded at the Monroe, LA zoo until a hippo pen was completed 18 months later. The present zoo was built around the hippo pen, and was opened in 1967.

Since 1989, the Lufkin Kiwanis Club has helped with projects at the zoo. To date, thirteen projects have been completed, totaling over 3200 person hours of donated time and $35,000 of donated materials.

In 1999, the Maasai Giraffe and White Rhinoceros exhibits opened. These were followed by a Nile hippopotamus exhibit in 2002 where visitors can view the animals both above and below the waterline.

Animals

Animals that visitors will see at the zoo include DeBrazza's Monkey, Kestrel

Kestrel

The name kestrel, is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects...

, Russell's Viper, Jaguar

Jaguar

The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...

, Jamaican Fruit Bat

Jamaican fruit bat

The Jamaican, Common or Mexican fruit bat is a fruit bat native to Central and South America, as well as the Greater and many of the Lesser Antilles. It is also an uncommon resident of the Southern Bahamas...

, Galapagos Tortoise

Galápagos tortoise

The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, reaching weights of over and lengths of over . With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates...

, Fly River Turtle, Bontebok

Bontebok

The Bontebok is an antelope found in South Africa and Lesotho. The Bontebok has two subspecies; the endangered Bontebok , occurring naturally in the Fynbos and Renosterveld areas of the Western Cape, and the Blesbok occurring in the highveld.The Bontebok stands 80 to 100 cm at the shoulder and...

, Sulcata tortoise, Ruddy Duck

Ruddy Duck

The Ruddy Duck is a small stiff-tailed duck.Their breeding habitat is marshy lakes and ponds throughout much of North America, and in South America in the Andes. They nest in dense marsh vegetation near water. The female builds her nest out of grass, locating it in tall vegetation to hide it from...

, Malayan Tapir

Malayan Tapir

The Malayan Tapir , also called the Asian Tapir, is the largest of the four species of tapir and the only one native to Asia. The scientific name refers to the East Indies, the species' natural habitat...

, Spectacled Owl

Spectacled Owl

The Spectacled Owl, Pulsatrix perspicillata, is a large tropical owl. It is a resident breeder from southern Mexico and Trinidad, through Central America, south to southern Brazil, Paraguay and northwestern Argentina...

, Chilean Flamingo

Chilean Flamingo

The Chilean Flamingo is a large species closely related to Caribbean Flamingo and Greater Flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific...

, Toco Toucan

Toco Toucan

The Toco Toucan is the largest and probably the best known species in the toucan family. It is found in semi-open habitats throughout a large part of central and eastern South America...

, Saki Monkey

Saki monkey

Sakis, or saki monkeys, are any of several New World monkeys of the genus Pithecia. They are closely related to the bearded sakis of genus Chiropotes.-Range:...

s, Cotton-top Tamarin, Alligator

Alligator

An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....

, River Otter

River Otter

    Not to be confused with the animal Otter or the River Ottery in CornwallThe River Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, near Otterford, then flows south for some 32 km through East Devon to the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of...

, Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...

, Bali Mynah, Clouded Leopard

Clouded Leopard

The clouded leopard is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN...

, Maasai Giraffe, and White Rhinoceros

White Rhinoceros

The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species...

.

Education

Ellen Trout Zoo started offering educational programs to schools in the area in 1977. Current offerings include "Wildlife on Wheels," a series of in-classroom programs for elementary students about endangered species, animal adaptations, animal taxonomy, and rainforest environments, various school programs at the zoo, teacher workshops, university internships, and curriculum supplements.

Summer programs include the Junior Zookeeper program for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders where children work directly with zookeepers, and the Zoo Safari program.