Our Town Revisited: Salisbury Zoo
SALISBURY, Md. – In February of 1999, WMDT visited the Salisbury Zoo. In 2025, though the staff hasn’t changed much, the sights have, and there a lot of things to go wild about.
Bears, Birds, & Bison
From bears to birds or even bison, you’ll find a variety of animals at the Salisbury Zoo. Founded in 1954, what once started off with a few local animals like ducks and deer, has now blossomed into the beautiful facility you see today.
Chuck Eicholz is the current Zoo director. His career has gone from aquariums to Sea Worlds, and about 5 years ago, he settled in Salisbury. “It all started with people basically dropping off ducks in the park, there’s been deer from early on, raccoons. That’s pretty much how it all started, and the city embraced that and decided they were going to start enclosing the animals.”
Animal Accreditation
Back in 1999, the zoo was accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. As of Today, the zoo isn’t certified through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Chuck says the name and standards have changed, so they are doing what they can to get back in good standing.
“In 2019 unfortunately, we did lose our accreditation. We were one of the first 20 in the United States to be accredited by them, so we held on to it for a long time period… So, we’re in the process of re-applying for our accreditation, we are a part of the Pathways program.”
Over the past 25 years, numerous additions have been made, including the Australia Exhibit, the most recent Eagle Exhibit, and the Red Tail Hawk exhibit is in the works. Chuck says other additions should help with compliance. “The biggest key and one of the reasons we did lose or AZA accreditation, is we really didn’t have a good hospital facility as well as a veterinarian. So, we have built a beautiful animal hospital.”
Exhibits for Everyone
They have about 360,000 guests at the Zoo annually and so they’ve made accommodations, like have sensory friendly days and devices, so that anyone and everyone can enjoy the zoo, and if you come there’s a lot to see! Chuck says he makes everyday a new adventure.
“Every day is a new animal; that’s the wonderful thing about working in my position is I get to choose every day… We have Indian bears, we have bison, ducks, we have links. Gosh there’s so many. We’ve got wonderful animals.” He says the Salisbury Zoo is free to the public, so they heavily rely on donations.
Feel free to visit their website, to donate, volunteer, or plan a trip to see and upcoming exhibit!
