FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – For 60 years, the Fort Wayne Zoo’s been bringing animals and children together. With 69 habitats, 188 species and 1,500 animals over 47 acres, the zoo’s grown a lot since it first started in 1965.
Opening day attendance in 1965 was 6,000 people. Back then, it was around five acres with 18 habitats. Now the zoo averages more than 600,000 people every year with more than 26 million guests total over the last six decades.
Before the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo opened in 1965, the story really starts a decade earlier with a nature preserve in Franke Park…