Lee Richardson Zoo--Garden City

Location:  South edge of Garden City on Business Loop Hwy US 83.

Contact:  Ph. 316/276-1250 or 800/879-9803

What was started in the 1920's with a pair of skunks by Lee Richardson has grown into an impressive zoological park.  Garden City is proud of it's zoo--and it should be!  The Lee Richardson Zoo is Kansas's third largest attraction and the largest in the Western half of the state.  It rivals zoos found in much larger cities, but like a lot of Western Kansas, it's barely known outside of its' own area.

These elk are among the over 300 animals at the tree shaded 47 acre zoo.  The young elk (right) sits near it's mother (small photo above) as she chews her cud.  Chewing cud is an adaptation that grazing animals use so that they can minimize the time spent out in the open grass exposed to predators.  Grazing is done quickly, then when they reach the safety of cover, they pass the grass back up from the first of their four stomachs for rechewing.   Animals which do this are called ruminants, and included in this group along with elk are cattle and deer as well as other large grazing animals.

The bull elk (left) pauses in his rubbing of a tree to survey his domain in the Lee Richardson Zoo.  This is one of the nicest elk displays in a zoo I have ever seen.

One of the elephants at the zoo gets some early morning exercize by lifting a 500 or so pound log with ease (right).  The elephants at this zoo are trained and sometimes demonstrations are held with the elephants performing for the crowds.  Contact the zoo for details.

The animals at left and above are part of the Lee Richardson Zoo's new "Wild Asia" exhibit.

The zoo is undergoing constant updating of it's displays.   One of the most impressive new buildings is the Finnup Center for Conservation Education built in 1996.  It  includes class rooms and a meeting room/auditorium suitable for sizable gatherings of people.  Here too are the administration offices for the zoo and an uplink center available for teleconferencing.  The fact that Garden City is located in Western Kansas and has this impressive zoo surprises many folks.   It shouldn't, however, since Finney County is Kansas's fastest growing county, ahead of the more urban counties to the east.

The Lee Richardson Zoo also features a walk-through aviary which has some rather colorful inhabitants.  Here you walk inside the bird cage, and often the birds will perch just feet away to study their new visitors.

Visitors have a choice of driving through the zoo or walking.  Those who choose to drive through will pay a small fee while walking visitors are admitted for free.

(Thanks to Kelly Goss and the staff at the Finney County Convention and Tourism Bureau for all their help!)

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