Zoo story

June 1, 2008

Here, the rarest of animals do dwell
But you can find them, including an orangutan and exotic rhinos, with little effort.

Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

SALINA - Robbie likes women. Especially blondes. Sometimes he's shy around them. Other times, he shows off a bit.

And if the more than 160-pound orangutan could talk, he'd tell you it is human-watching season at the Rolling Hills Zoo.

Other animals, too, have come to expect that each year, with the end of the slow winter season at the zoo, humans will come in big quantities, just like the tulips that are blooming. They come to see Robbie, along with the more than 100 species that live on this 65-acre facility.

Drive a few miles west of Salina on Interstate 70. Turn off onto a county road that takes you through the small ghost town of Hedville. Here, among all places, a zoo is located amid a parcel of Kansas prairie.

It's here that Robbie lives, as well as some of the rarest animals of the world. Two white rhinos and an Indian rhino are the only ones in Kansas, and while both are endangered, only a few thousand Indian rhinos survive in the wild. Meanwhile, fewer than 5,000 snow leopards and just 500 to 1,500 Bactrian camels remain in their native range.

Robbie, too, is endangered, with less than 5,000 of his kind remaining in the wild, said Vickee Spicer, director of development and marketing at Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure.

How it started

The zoo opened in 1999, thanks to a donation by Salina businessman Charlie Walker.

In the 1980s, Walker would invite children to his nearby ranch to see the animals, which included llamas, black bear cubs and a lioness. The zoo grew out of his collection.

"It was so popular, he realized there was a need in this area for a zoo," Spicer said.

He donated the land and some buildings for a park. The Rolling Hills Zoo officially opened in 1999.

Since then, the zoo has grown tremendously. Officials added a 64,000-square-foot museum a few years ago, which allows visitors to journey around the world within the museum, viewing exhibits portraying Africa, North America, the rainforest, the Far East and the Middle East.

The museum includes more than 500 full-mount taxidermy animals, as well as movable lifelike animals.

Lots to do, see

On this day, it's the animals that most are out to see. A lion prowls around its cage and black swans bask by the waters. A tiger curls up on a platform and kangaroos rest in tall grass.

Monkeys play on islands, and a pregnant llama will soon give birth.

But it was a black bear that fascinated 9-year-old Addelin. She crawled up through a pop-up display in the middle of the bear pen to get a closer look at the timid creature.

Her grandfather, Jim Smith of Hesston, had taken Addelin, her brother and sister to the zoo, along with Mary Lee Wiens, also of Hesston, and her two grandchildren. They wanted to do something with their grandchildren before the summer became too busy, Smith said.

"We've just gotten started," Smith said, although noting their next stop would be the zoo restaurant.

A gas tank away

An exotic trip to Africa might be a little too expensive this year, and high gasoline prices make a quick excursion to the see wildlife in Colorado, Wyoming or other nearby states more expensive.

So Spicer and others are hoping residents instead will turn to their own backyards. Put the Rolling Hills Zoo on a list of one-day excursions, she said. A day at the zoo seems to make everyone happy, even the animals. It's a first-rate place to commune with critters, she said.

"We're all crossing our fingers, hoping more people will take trips that are just a gas tank away," she said.