WACO, Texas — The Cameron Park Zoo will open the doors of two new facilities on Friday, Oct. 25, the Corwin, Estes, and Jaynes Education Center and the Carol Schmidhauser Veterinary Hospital.
To commemorate the new facilities, the zoo will host a grand opening event at 10 a.m. that morning, the zoo said in a release. The event will reportedly feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony, brief remarks, refreshments and guided tours of the "state-of-the-art" facilities.
The Zoo said the Education Center will feature classrooms, offices, event rental spaces and technology that will "enable worldwide remote learning experiences", while the Veterinary Hospital, which is adjoined to the Education Center but is an independent facility, will house surgical suites, pharmaceutical storage and environmentally controlled holding spaces for animals under care or observation.
"Together, both facilities will offer a new hub for public education and professional development in animal care for years to come," the zoo said in a release.
The expansion was made possible through a $14.5 million voter-approved bond in 2019, the zoo said, as well as through the support of the Zoological & Botanical Society, McLennan County and numerous donors.
In addition to the Education Center and Veterinary Hospital, the expansion also included the recent opening of the Gloria and F.M. Young Penguin Shores Exhibit, which is home to 11 pairs of South African Penguins and a black-footed cat.
The grand opening of the education center and veterinary hospital is the last step of this expansion, according to the zoo.
More from 6 News: