The Courier & Press put up a really great video tour of the new Mesker Zoo exhibit Amazonia. It’s great to see the zoo finally getting something fresh. I’m looking forward to going and seeing the exhibit in the next few weeks.

peacock by lorispindler

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The first post I ever wrote on It’s Evansville was about Mesker Zoo and their new Amazonia exhibit. Amazonia’s goal is to recreate the South American rain forest experience in Evansville. VisitIndiana recently got a tour of the new exhibit and shared some of their photos on Flickr. This looks really neat.

Continue reading Mesker’s New Amazonia Looks Great…

Now that we’re all back, how about we catch up on some of the highlights around town in the past 4 days?

• I don’t know about you, but I’m really tired of the stadium debate. Now the word on the street is that the most we can afford is $100 million on a new place. There is a board meeting about the stadium tomorrow night, and you can tune in to WNIN at 5:30PM to watch it live. MUST SEE TV PEOPLE.
• The MDA telethon was a success locally. It brought in $686,763 from the tri-state area. There’s also some minor controversy that Jerry Lewis called a cameraman a faggot on stage. I personally can’t tell he said that or fatty. Watch the video and decide for yourself.
• Mesker Zoo is looking for some volunteers to help give presentations about animals around the city. If you’ve got 60 hours a year to spare, you can get more information here.
• We now know why Droste’s burned. Heat produced from landscape lighting ignited wood shingles and tar paper that had been removed during a roofing project under way at the time of the fire.
• Don’t get your hopes up about Indiana abolishing property taxes. Legislators can’t find a way to replace that $6.2 billion it brings in every year.
• The Courier did a profile of the new Evansville Day School head master, Kendell Berry. I graduated from EDS in 2001, and I’m glad to see a new person in charge. Maybe I can return to the all-family picnic this year.
• Ellis Park is done with live racing for another year. Did you go?
• Habitat plans to build homes for displaced tornado victims this week at a property just off South Green River Road.

photo courtesy of littledan77

Good news zoo lovers. Mesker Park Zoo and Botanical Garden has kept its accreditation with the AZA (the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, but you already knew that).

Keeping its AZA accreditation is a feather in the cap of a zoo that has been rebuilding over the past decade. The zoo had lost its accreditation back in 1998, but was re-accredited in 2002 when it reapplied.

With the introduction of the Amazonia Rainforest exhibit in 2008, the zoo just might receive the new breath of life that it has needed for so long. Amazonia will introduce a new entrance to the zoo, a tropical rain forest exhibit, and other improvements throughout the zoo.