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Our View: Buttonwood Zoo shines, despite criticism

Our View: Buttonwood Zoo shines, despite criticism

It’s difficult to make sense of the well-intentioned, but misguided, criticism from a few, when so many objective indicators tell such a different story of the Buttonwood Park Zoo.Most obviously, we need only look at attendance statistics for the 7-acre gem in New Bedford’s West End. It is the most popular attraction in Southeastern Massachusetts, hosting 150,000 to 160,000 visitors a year, 70 percent of whom come from outside New Bedford, from Boston and Providence suburbs to

Source: Our View: Buttonwood Zoo shines, despite criticism

Buttonwood Park Zoo exhibits based on Ocean Explorium to start Thursday

Local folks who enjoyed the downtown Ocean Explorium will soon be able to see new exhibits at Buttonwood Park Zoo based on some of those same features.On Thursday, the zoo will unveil five new exhibits “developed, in part, by recycling several of the aquarium tanks and life support system equipment from the former Ocean Explorium.”Among the exhibits will be ones located in the Entrance Lobby that feature the Poison Dart Frog and the Amazon Flooded Forest and ones in the Education Center

Source: Buttonwood Park Zoo exhibits based on Ocean Explorium to start Thursday

Your View: Education grows at Buttonwood Park Zoo

Your View: Education grows at Buttonwood Park Zoo

I fully appreciate the Buttonwood Park Zoo’s mission statement, because I am a life-long learner and explorer of the natural world. That began as a child spending countless hours in a natural history museum, a local nature center, and woods near my house. Because of family members and teachers who opened my eyes to nature and encouraged me to explore and share, I became a teacher and researcher at the university level. In my retirement, I am helping grow the education programs at the

Source: Your View: Education grows at Buttonwood Park Zoo

Bear of a surgery: Buttonwood Park Zoo’s Ursula has tooth pulled

Bear of a surgery: Buttonwood Park Zoo’s Ursula has tooth pulled

NEW BEDFORD — It was a bear of a task but it had to be done.Intubated with monitors beeping and her tongue lolling out, Ursula lay anesthetized, her furry chest heaving as she underwent tooth surgery Friday.It’s not too different from a root canal you would have, staffers said, except that Ursula is one of three black bears at the Buttonwood Park Zoo, which makes it a whole different challenge.“Outside of anesthesia, It’s physically demanding because it’s a

Source: Bear of a surgery: Buttonwood Park Zoo’s Ursula has tooth pulled

‘Smooth Sailing into Kindergarten’: Incoming kindergarten students get a special welcome

‘Smooth Sailing into Kindergarten’: Incoming kindergarten students get a special welcome

NEW BEDFORD — City school officials want to make sure the new class of little ones enjoys “Smooth Sailing into Kindergarten.”One of their tools: a special welcome event held last week at the Buttonwood Park Zoo.New kindergarten students entering New Bedford Public Schools this fall were invited Aug. 4 to “join their soon-to-be classmates, school leaders and the animals at the Buttonwood Park Zoo for an event celebrating their start to school.”The free program for the incoming

Source: ‘Smooth Sailing into Kindergarten’: Incoming kindergarten students get a special welcome