Biltmore is state's top historic attraction

Asheville's Biltmore Estate is the state's top historic attraction, according to Carolina Publishing Associates' annual survey.

Following Biltmore on the list were Fort Macon in Atlantic Beach, the N.C. Zoo in Asheboro, the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh and Fort Fisher at Kure Beach.

Quick hits: N.C. Zoo is great, and UNC still wants to do some doctorin' in the west

National organization calls N.C. Zoo one of the best in the world

"A national organization says the North Carolina Zoo is one of the best in the world," according to the AP.

"Association of Zoos & Aquariums CEO Jim Maddy says the zoo near Asheboro meets the group's highest standards.

"Maddy praised the zoo after announcing his organization has again awarded accreditation to the facility.

"The zoo has been accredited since 1984. Every five years, zoos and aquariums have to undergo a rigorous application process if they want to remain accredited. The process includes a detailed inspection and a formal hearing. ..."


UNC again pushing western medical training

"The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is again pushing plans to open a branch campus of its medical school to train doctors in Charlotte," according to the AP.

"The Charlotte Observer reported the new proposal to train doctors in Charlotte and Asheville is a scaled down version of the plan offered two years ago that failed to win legislative approval.

"UNC-Chapel Hill had proposed training 50 doctors in Charlotte and 20 in Asheville in 2008. The new plan calls for a dozen students to train in Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte starting in 2013. Eight doctors would train at Mission Health System in Asheville. ..."

N.C. Zoo -- the world's largest -- looking into expansion

From News 14 Carolina:

The world's largest acreage of zoo is located in the heart of the Piedmont Triad and soon the North Carolina Zoo could see some big changes.

Over the last three days, the city and county government met with members of the zoo staff and a New York based consulting firm to discuss the the wildlife center's future. Already the North Carolina Zoo is unique both in size and layout.

“North Carolina Zoological Park is now the largest zoological facility acreage in the world at 2,100 acres," said N.C. Zoo Director Dr. David Jones.

The 1,500 acre main site houses an African and North American exhibit and takes tourist nearly half a day to explore. Now the zoo is looking into opening an Asian exhibit which could keep visitors around a little longer.

"If they had another exhibit it would probably either take the whole day or you could spread it up and spend the night here and you know enjoy this area too," said visitor Megan Hendricks.

Which is exactly why the group decided to bring in an outside consulting firm to help decide if the expanding the zoo is worth the money. 273 acres of adjacent land owned by the zoo society, that could potentially house a new hotel and conference center for the additional visitors. ...

If the zoo expands, so could current and future highway access to the site. Funds for the study were provided by local tourism development authority, the city, county, the economic development corporation, and the zoo. The consulting firm will now develop a comprehensive report on the potential for the Asian region and rough plans for it's design.

That report should be completed by the end of November.

N.C. Zoo looks, plans for the future

The North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro has some grand ideas for its future. Here's to hoping they come to fruition.

An enlarged elephant and rhino exhibit is on tap for next spring, according to the Asheboro Courier-Tribune.

"The new exhibits will feature the state zoo’s expanded herds of nine rhinoceros and seven elephants, the most ever, and improve the ability to breed both pachyderm species. The elephants are part of one of the largest African elephant collections in the United States," said the paper.

The zoo has other projects, dependent on public and private funding over the next several years, on the horizon. Among them are an enlarged exhibit to house more polar bears, including youngsters; a third continent, Asia; and the Children’s Discovery Center. ...

“The keeping of bears is the next big thing after elephants[, said N.C. Zoo Director Dr. David Jones]. They need land space, more than originally thought.”

Enlarged exhibits are needed for the zoo’s polar, grizzly and black bears.

Jones noted that the design for the present polar bear exhibit, which opened in 1994, “was state of the art at the time.”

The current plan for the Rocky Coast exhibit is to provide new holding facilities — capable of housing five or six polar bears, including youngsters — and three times the present exhibit space. Estimated cost is $6.2 million.

The next project would be doubling the enclosure size for grizzly bears and making modifications to the black bear exhibit. Estimated cost is $2.5 million.

Jones said that early planning work is already under way for the Asian continent, which would be constructed on a 100-acre area between the parking lots for Africa and North America. ...

The new continent would focus on Asian animals, plants and habitats.

Featured animals in the first phase would include the Great One-Horned Indian Rhino and the zoo’s most requested species, tigers.

The second phase could bring in Giant Pandas and other species, like snow leopards, from the foothills and high mountain tops of the Eastern Himalayas, themed around China’s largest panda sanctuary, “Wolong.” Orangutans and Malayan tapirs would be included in the third phase. Estimated cost is $43.5 million. ...

We are fortunate here in North Carolina have such a world-class zoo. And we are even more fortunate that its leaders want to keep forging ahead, making it better and better.