Cameron Park Zoo boasts more than 1,400 exotic animals at its modern 52-acre home beside the Brazos River. But one distinction of the zoo has little to do with hooves, trunks or flapping wings.
Along with Abilene Zoo, it’s one of only two accredited zoos in Texas owned and operated by a city government. That may change as Waco city officials eye privatization to rein in spending.
Though Cameron Park Zoo has become a beloved local institution and regional attraction since it was built in 1993, it’s increasingly seen as a financial burden by city leaders.
The zoo typically requires between $4.5 million to $6 million annually in city subsidies to stay afloat. Meanwhile, the cost of new education and veterinary facilities and the Penguin Shores exhibit ballooned to nearly $30 million after McLennan County voters approved a $14.5 million bond for the work in 2019.
Council members this month heard a presentation on a study exploring privatization.
Zach Winfield, senior vice president for Canopy Strategic Partners, a zoo consultancy hired by the city in 2024, presented his findings and recommendations to the council.
“If the zoo does not privatize, between 2028 and 2035, our best assessment is that the zoo is likely to run a deficit of $2.3 million during that time period,” Winfield said. With privatization, he continued, the zoo could see a surplus revenue of $2.5 million over that eight-year period.
The biggest savings would come from the public benefit packages zoo employees currently enjoy, “which far exceed what is typical in privatized Association of Zoos and Aquariums zoos,” Winfield said. Administration would be transferred to a nonprofit governing board overseen by the Cameron Park Zoological and Botanical Society.
Whether the city chooses to go private or stay the course, Winfield recommended hiring 30 additional staff to maintain accreditation. Keeping a steady tempo of new exhibits will also be key for Cameron Park Zoo to reach its admissions goal of 400,000 to 450,000 a year.
But significant public subsidies are unlikely to disappear unless the zoo does. Winfield said around 95% of AZA zoos in the country receive some form of public subsidy owing to the difficulty of turning a profit in the zoo business.
Waco Mayor Jim Holmes mulled over the prospect of privatization in an interview after a meeting Thursday with the city’s zoo commission. He was intrigued but still had questions.
“What we saw in the models the other night was that a (private operator) could run it a little more efficiently,” Holmes said. “I was just hoping to see more of a difference in savings. It’s still something that we need to look at, to consider.”
He floated the idea of providing a flat subsidy for the zoo as a way to keep costs from spiraling: “Here’s $3.5 million and you’ve gotta make that work.”
Zoo Director Brendan Wiley saw potential in the move to a privatized nonprofit zoo, though he added a decision on the matter was “probably no time soon.”
“What a number of zoos around the country have found is that, just by changing the operating model to a nonprofit, personnel are more affordable, so you can have more people to do more things,” he said.
Nevertheless, the zoo’s priority would continue to be on attracting crowds while boosting revenue with a drum beat of new zoo experiences every four to five years, Wiley said. He pointed to the success of the new Penguin Shores exhibit as a case in point, and the 383,000 visitors projected to pass through the gates by year’s end, which would eclipse the previous record by more than 20,000.
Hewitt resident Chris Burgess is among the zoo’s frequent visitors, using his season pass to bring his 7-year-old daughter to the zoo about once a month.
“It’s educational for her and affordable for us with the season pass,” he said. Burgess is a big fan of Cameron Park Zoo but worries privatization would raise admission and concession prices.
“The thing with privatization is, it’s all about ‘how do we make our next dollar,’” he said. “They’re going to increase the price of everything, which is going to price a lot of families out of their ability to enjoy it.”
