New Bedford’s Buttonwood Park Zoo to Debut New Ambassador Center Experience in August

The Buttonwood Park Zoo (BPZoo) in New Bedford is unveiling a new educational initiative, Ambassador Center, in August. The new center will offer visitors an opportunity to learn more about the animals they can't always see during a regular zoo visit.

BPZoo officials believe that the Ambassador Center — to be installed in the zoo's barnhouse building — will set the zoo apart from its competitors.

"This just isn't how other AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) zoos do their animal ambassador programs," said BPZoo Director of Education Sara Van Wormer to South Coast Today. "We're looking to open one of the best animal ambassador centers anyone's ever seen."

Van Wormer noted that one aspect of the Buttonwood Park Zoo's Ambassador Center program is its focus on providing high-quality living quarters for the zoo animals in its care.

"We're doing something really revolutionary," Van Wormer said. For example, "bioactive" habitats are being prepared for some of the amphibians, reptiles and other animals that will soon occupy the space once quarantine periods are over.

"These habitats not only have obviously plants, but they also have live bacteria colonies. They've got microorganisms, so they are fully functioning ecosystems," Van Wormer said about some of the enclosures in the reptile room.

When the new Ambassador Center opens, the BPZoo's animal ambassador program will expand from 11 species to 22, Van Wormer notes. These animals include the four-toed hedgehog and the lesser Madagascar hedgehog tenrec.

With its focus on education, Van Wormer told South Coast Today that, through exhibitions and programs, staff will work to dispel common misconceptions about zoo animals.

Part of the Ambassador Center's job, she added, will be to tell the stories behind the animals that live there and provide information that will help visitors understand the diverse species that exist here.

"Everyone's going to have a sign that swivels and says their name, their birthdays, where they came from, and how they got here," Van Wormer said.