The Zoo is located at 402
Zoo Circle, Lufkin, Texas 75904. On the north Loop 287,
exit north on Martin Luther King and turn left
immediately onto Zoo Circle. Parking is available along
the street or the parking lots in Ellen Trout Park.
Buses are requested to park in the Expo Center parking
lot. Call 936-633-0399 for more information.
Click here for a map.
Our Mission
To cultivate an appreciation of the
natural world and to provide environmental education and wildlife
conservation for the
benefit and enjoyment
Thanks
to the efforts of zoo staff, volunteers, the City of Lufkin Street
and Park and Recreation Departments, who all are assisting with
clean up efforts, the Ellen Trout Zoo is now open, including the
Africa section with giraffes, rhinos, and hippos that was previously
closed for continued cleanup. Most of the animals will be on exhibit
except for those which had exhibit damage where debris is still
being removed. Regular admission fees have been reinstated: $5.00
for adults 11 and older and $2.50 for children 4-11, children under
4 are free. “Hurricane Specials”, or free admission, will be offered
to evacuees who show proof of residence. All visitors and guests
are advised to use caution in the park because debris is piled in
various locations awaiting removal.
Why
does this tiger have a watermelon in his mouth?
Watch our video
to find the answer. The video depicts an enrichment project
done during Zoo Safari this summer. Zoo Safari and Jr. Zookeeper
are two popular programs conducted at the zoo each summer for young
people.
The
Ellen Trout Zoo Director
Gordon Henley was recently interviewed for City Hall Update, a City
sponsored program which airs on channel 15 on Suddenlink Cable.
Gordon discusses the new education complex as well as many aspects of
the Ellen Trout Zoo. He also shows off one of the newest
additions, Chewie, a Two Toed Sloth which was born and hand raised at
the Zoo.
Come
out to the Ellen Trout Zoo for family fun at the 5th annual “Family
Day… A Day to Eat Dinner with your Children” event scheduled for
Saturday, September 6th from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sponsored by The
Coalition, KSWP/KAVX, Coca-Cola, City of Lufkin and the Friends of
the Ellen Trout Zoo, Family Day is a national campaign used as a
tool to remind parents to eat dinner nightly together as a family
and to spend time with their children as a way to prevent substance
abuse.
Beginning at 10 a.m., zoo admission will be half off. The Drug Free
All Stars and the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council will be doing
puppet shows. Two dollar hamburger baskets will be served starting
at 11 a.m. There will also be free face painting, zoo membership
discounts and lots of family fun activities. For more information,
contact The Coalition at (936)634-9308 or log on to
www.angelinacoalition.org.
The
Ellen Trout Zoo's new acquisitions and animal babies were recently
featured on the front page of the Lufkin Daily News.
The article reads in part: Sheena the jaguar
is the newest queen of the jungle at Ellen Trout Zoo.
Sheena, 17-years-old, and her companion, Tikal, 12-years-old,
officially went out on exhibit at the zoo on July 4. The two new
members joined several other animals new to the zoo including a
giraffe and several baby animals born on or near the Fourth of July.
Read the entire
article and watch the Lufkin Daily News'
accompanying video.
We
have a
short video of
the new Flamingo chicks hatched at Ellen Trout Zoo this season. One chick
was hatched on the 4th of July and was named Liberty and a second
was hatched on the 5th and was named Justice. This video was shot and
edited by our curator, Celia Falzone. We also have a
picture of both chicks and
our veterinarian Dr. Mike Nance, giving on of the chicks a "well
baby check". The Ellen Trout Zoo has a
sizable flock of Chilean Flamingos and summertime is a great time to
watch these beautiful birds. Come to the Ellen Trout Zoo and
watch the chicks grow up!
Construction
on the new Education Center and Admin Complex is continuing on
schedule. The slab has been poured. We have a
pictures showing the current progress of
the Education Center. We will continue to provide
construction updates so come back often to see the progress on this
exciting development.
Brookshire
Brothers and Western Union recently donated a check for $24,000.00
to the Ellen Trout Zoo for the new Education Center and Admin
Complex. The funds were raised from Brookshire Brothers Fresh
Harvest Cooking Show in November. The show raised $12,000.00
and Western Union has matched the funds for a total of $24,000.00.
Brookshire Brothers is also providing funds to the Zoo from the sale
of HyTop Animal Crackers.
Watch the Video.
Friends of Ellen Trout Zoo President Teresa Roe presented six local
businesses with "Paw Prints" Friday, January 11, 2008. Atkinson
Candy Company for donating candy for Zoo Boo. Best Buy for sending
out their Volunteer Tag Teem to help decorate for Zoo Boo.
Brookshire Brothers for being a corporate sponsor. Coca - Cola for
donating soft drinks for several events. GAP Broadcasting to the
DJ's that talk about the Zoo all year! UFO Pizza for coming out to
Zoo Boo and donating pizza to our volunteers as well as our
visitors. Without the donations from these companies our Zoo Events
would not be as great as they are. On behalf of the Zoo Board thank
you for supporting the Ellen Trout Zoo.
The
Ellen Trout Zoo has two new new exciting announcements. The
first one is the return of Blackbuck Antelope to the zoo. Nearly two
months after the tragic deaths of five Blackbuck Antelope, the Ellen
Trout Zoo has been able to acquire and return two females to Lufkin.
One of these is still nursing and is off exhibit, the other is
almost two years old and is on exhibit in the Blackbuck display in
the Asian area of the zoo. We will be receiving a male in the future
to round out the herd.
The second
announcement is the arrival of a new male African Lion a year and a
half old. This new addition is part of the Lion Species Survival
Plan (SSP) of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is a
valuable animal for the zoo. “Mashaka”-which means Trouble, as he is
called, can be seen in the zoo’s lion exhibit.
The Ellen Trout
Zoo, “The Wildest Place in Town and Your Place to Connect with the
Natural World”, is open every day from 9 am until 5 pm.
Watch the Video.
We
have a pair of American Bald Eagles nesting in the trees across
Ellen Trout Lake. You can stand in the parking lot and watch
the eagles soaring above the lake. On January 15 Celia Falzone,
the zoo's curator, captured one of the eagles on video. Notice
the branch the eagle is carrying to build the nest.
Watch the
video.
Emi-lane,
Ellen Trout Zoo's female Maasai Giraffe, gave birth to a new calf on
Tuesday, January 8. The zoo staff noticed the calf's legs
protruding from Emi-lane's womb around 8:00 am and the calf was born
shortly after 1:00 pm. An excited but quiet zoo staff watched
the long process. Emi-lane was let out of the barn for a
couple of hours but was moved back in when it started to rain.
We shot almost two hours of video tape during the long process and
have made a short video of the birth. Congratulations to
Emi-lane.
Watch
the video.
We
have new videos of the Two Toed
Sloth well baby check and
Malayan Pit Vipers
hatching. These videos were shot and edited by our
curator, Celia Falzone. Celia's ability to shoot and edit video
ensures that the zoo can quickly record significant events such as
births. We look forward to many more videos from Celia.
Happy 40th Birthday!
The Ellen Trout
Zoo celebrated it's Grand Re-Opening Saturday June 16.
Mayor Jack Gorden read a proclamation, City Manager Paul Parker and
Zoo Director Gordon Henley spoke, and Barbara Trout Corbett cut the
ribbon. There were keeper talks, photos from the
past forty years, and a birthday cake. We have a
streaming video of the event. Read more about it in the
Lufkin Daily News.
We
have updated our Video Page. Check
out videos of Jaguar's receiving wound treatment, Bontebok well baby
check, the arrival of our new Hippopotamus and many more. We
now have 15 videos on the page. Nothing replaced a visit to
the Ellen Trout Zoo but many of these videos provide information and
record special events at the zoo. See you at the Ellen Trout
Zoo!
The
Ellen Trout Zoo is home to a GIANT SNAKE! A recently acquired
Reticulated Python may now be seen in the Asia section of the Zoo.
This species is the world’s longest reptile and can reach lengths
over 30 feet. More commonly they are 10-20 feet long. Our new python
is about 15 feet long and weighs 82 pounds. Zoo visitors will be
able to watch her continue to grow over the years to come. This
snake species is relatively slender for its length and is known for
a vivid pattern with a light brown background, diamond shaped
configuration, and yellow and white highlights. In the wild,
they kill prey by constriction. They have about 100 sharp teeth that
point backward for help in holding their prey.
The
newest addition to the hippo herd at the Ellen Trout Zoo is "Jazi".
She was born at the San Diego Zoo on July 7, 2003. Jazi arrived in
Lufkin at 9:30am on May 22 tired and ready to get out of her crate.
She had been on the road for two days. She was greeted by
Lufkin's mayor, Jack Gorden, several members of the press and happy
zoo staff. With help from Glenn Sullivan, Angelina County Expo
Director, a heavy duty forklift was used to move Jazi in her crate
to the hippo barn. When she has had a couple of days to get rested
and settled in we will try to get a weight on her. Jazi will remain
in quarantine for about 30 days before she will be released to the
exhibit and public view.
Watch
the video.
The
Ellen Trout Zoo has a brochure available describing the
venomous snakes found in East Texas. The PDF brochure
is available in both
English
and
Spanish. The brochure was written by Gordon
Henley, Zoo Director and is illustrated with photographs by
Celia Falzone, General Curator. Editorial assistance
was provided by J. Colin Crawford, Education Assistant.
The brochure provides written and photographic descriptions
of the 5 species of venomous snakes found in Angelina
County.
We now have Ellen Trout Zoo Director Gordon Henley's
City Hall Update interview online. This is an
important interview and describes the death of Pancho and talks
about the problem of foreign objects being thrown into the animals'
exhibits. Gordon show the ball that caused Pancho's death and
displays other objects recently retrieved from the exhibits.
Gordon also describes the return of the Chinese Alligator and the
new Komodo Dragon breeding program.
Why
does this tiger have a watermelon in his mouth?
The
Ellen Trout Zoo Director
Come
out to the Ellen Trout Zoo for family fun at the 5th annual “Family
Day… A Day to Eat Dinner with your Children” event scheduled for
Saturday, September 6th from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sponsored by The
Coalition, KSWP/KAVX, Coca-Cola, City of Lufkin and the Friends of
the Ellen Trout Zoo, Family Day is a national campaign used as a
tool to remind parents to eat dinner nightly together as a family
and to spend time with their children as a way to prevent substance
abuse. 
Construction
on the new Education Center and Admin Complex is continuing on
schedule. The slab has been poured. We have a
Brookshire
Brothers and Western Union recently donated a check for $24,000.00
to the Ellen Trout Zoo for the new Education Center and Admin
Complex. The funds were raised from Brookshire Brothers Fresh
Harvest Cooking Show in November. The show raised $12,000.00
and Western Union has matched the funds for a total of $24,000.00.
Brookshire Brothers is also providing funds to the Zoo from the sale
of HyTop Animal Crackers.
We
have a pair of American Bald Eagles nesting in the trees across
Ellen Trout Lake. You can stand in the parking lot and watch
the eagles soaring above the lake. On January 15 Celia Falzone,
the zoo's curator, captured one of the eagles on video. Notice
the branch the eagle is carrying to build the nest.
Emi-lane,
Ellen Trout Zoo's female Maasai Giraffe, gave birth to a new calf on
Tuesday, January 8. The zoo staff noticed the calf's legs
protruding from Emi-lane's womb around 8:00 am and the calf was born
shortly after 1:00 pm. An excited but quiet zoo staff watched
the long process. Emi-lane was let out of the barn for a
couple of hours but was moved back in when it started to rain.
We shot almost two hours of video tape during the long process and
have made a short video of the birth. Congratulations to
Emi-lane.
We
have new videos of the 
Happy 40th Birthday!
The Ellen Trout
Zoo celebrated it's Grand Re-Opening Saturday June 16.
Mayor Jack Gorden read a proclamation, City Manager Paul Parker and
Zoo Director Gordon Henley spoke, and Barbara Trout Corbett cut the
ribbon. There were keeper talks, photos from the
past forty years, and a birthday cake. We have a
We
have updated our 
The
Ellen Trout Zoo is home to a GIANT SNAKE! A recently acquired
Reticulated Python may now be seen in the Asia section of the Zoo.
This species is the world’s longest reptile and can reach lengths
over 30 feet. More commonly they are 10-20 feet long. Our new python
is about 15 feet long and weighs 82 pounds. Zoo visitors will be
able to watch her continue to grow over the years to come. This
snake species is relatively slender for its length and is known for
a vivid pattern with a light brown background, diamond shaped
configuration, and yellow and white highlights. In the wild,
they kill prey by constriction. They have about 100 sharp teeth that
point backward for help in holding their prey.
The
Ellen Trout Zoo has a brochure available describing the
venomous snakes found in East Texas. The PDF brochure
is available in both
We now have Ellen Trout Zoo Director Gordon Henley's
