By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
The Roos N More Zoo in Moapa is, at last, being allowed to make another start. The popular, family-owned animal park was given approval to reopen by the Clark County Commission on Wednesday last week. But the facility will be under very close scrutiny by county officials to ensure that the zoo is in full compliance with all regulations that apply.
The permit approved last week includes a list of 34 detailed conditions and restrictions. These included a strict limit on the number of animals allowed in the facility, a complete ban on breeding of animals, how many people can visit the facility at one time, and a limit on the number of days that the facility can be open. Commissioners made it abundantly clear that this was a final opportunity for the zoo to meet its requirements and stay in compliance.
“Remember I said no second chances,” said Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick. “They have to get this right.”
Kirkpatrick noted that this issue was the first that she had faced after her appointment to the commission in August. She said that she had spent a tremendous amount of time working with county staff from many different departments to address every issue at the zoo. She added that she had seen the property extensively, had met with zoo owners Jay and Valerie Holt, and had asked the hard questions.
“I have worked super hard on the very first task that you sent me to do,” she told the commissioners. “I am very invested in it. I have even dreamed about the zoo in the past few weeks. In the end I do think that this could be a real destination in the area if all of these conditions are met.”
The zoo has been closed to the general public since January 2014, when a county inspection turned up a number of code violations including the lack of a commercial septic system, permanent restroom facilities and adequate handicapped access.
The Holts say they have spent more than $300,000 since that time to bring the facility up to code. A good deal of that money was raised in a benefit event held last year at the Zappos downtown Las Vegas headquarters.
But the huge investment met a major setback in August when the commission declined issuing a use permit for the zoo. This action effectively closed the zoo, giving the Holts a short period to relocate all of their animals to other facilities.
But zoo supporters throughout the region responded by flooding the commissioners with calls and emails requesting them to reconsider the matter. Finally, Commissioner Mary Beth Scow requested that the matter be reconsidered, which was what eventually brought it to Wednesday’s agenda.
According to the conditions presented last week, Roos-N-More will be allowed to open only on weekends and holidays. No more than 200 visitors are allowed on the property at any one time.
During the hearing Commissioner Susan Braeger noted that many people come from a significant distance to visit the popular zoo.
“I could see a situation where people are coming out with their kids and the zoo has already reached its capacity,” she said. “Those people aren’t going to want to just sit in the parking lot for hours and wait. How are we going to address that?”
Kirkpatrick said that another condition required the zoo to be subject to six month review with the county commission and even more regular communication with county staff members. This would allow for situations like that to be monitored over time.
“This is just a start,” Kirkpatrick said. “When the flow of the facility is aligned better and we see people go through that, we might talk about separate shade areas for people to picnic or something like that. But we have to start somewhere. And I think this is a sufficient starting point.”
The zoo will also be limited to a 150 animals on site. It is currently home to nearly 300 different animals including kangaroos, otters, camels, lemurs, monkeys, otters and a large number of different reptiles and birds.
In the August meeting, Commissioners had paid close attention to feedback from neighboring property owners. All neighbors who actually lived on site had spoken enthusiastically in favor of the facility. But Wayne and Linda Dey, the owners of an undeveloped parcel immediately south of the zoo, had expressed concerns about the negative effect that they felt the zoo was having on their property values. Some commissioners had stated that, without the Dey issue being resolved, they would not be voting for approval.
But the Holt’s attorney, Chris Kaempfer, stated early on that this issue had been solved. The Zoo had entered into a contract to purchase the Dey property. This would bring other benefits for the zoo as well, Kaempfer said.
“One of the concerns voiced by staff is that the animals have enough space,” Kaempfer said. “By acquiring the Dey’s property we would eventually be able to move some of the animals over to the additional space and solve that issue.”
But other concerns arose about the humane treatment of the animals at the zoo. In a letter to the commissioners, the Humane Society recommended that the request for a permit be denied because of several citations issued to the zoo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
During public comment period, animal rights advocate Linda Faso also spoke against granting the permits. She recognized the Holts as good people with honorable intentions. But she said that the zoo was “a poorly run business that is doomed to fail.” She said that many other similar operations had gone out of business leaving many exotic animals “up for grabs.”
Kirkpatrick said that bringing the zoo into full compliance with the USDA was one of the conditions being required by the new permit. And this is one of the items that would be watched very closely in subsequent reviews by the commission.
Another condition was that the zoo must actively seek to obtain some level of zoo accreditation from a national group, Kirkpatrick said.
The zoo had been accredited by the Zoological Association of America (ZAA) before it had run into the current compliance issues, Kaempfer said.
But Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who ended up being the lone vote in opposition to granting the permit, urged that the zoo strive for the more stringent sSsociation of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accreditation.
“If they really want to be a major destination, it would make sense that they achieve the higher standard,” Giunchigliani said.
Kirkpatrick reiterated that the current conditions were a starting point. That achieving a ZZA accreditation would be realistic for that starting point. But eventually a ZAA accreditation might be required.
