Another year passes yet the song remains the same as the Jackson Zoo continues to shrink. Inventory reports show the Jackson Zoo only has 114 animals, a third of what it was eight years ago.
The zoo enjoyed a collection of 338 animals in 2018.
Unfortunately, as the zoo fell on hard times, the collection shrank as well. The Jackson Zoo only has 114 animals today, a third of what it was eight years earlier. The zoo's animal population thus fell by 2/3 in less than eight years with nary a peep out of the Lumumba administration or the Jackson City Council.
The collection seems even smaller when birds are separated from the population. The collection has 33 birds. The Avian collection is thus a 30% of the total population. The zoo's inventory had 100 birds in 2018, 30% of the collection.
The Jackson Zoo only has 19 employees, including seven Zookeepers:
43 comments:
Please just close it and let's forget about it. So many other more important issues.
The zoo used to be a joke. Now it is a shame. Ignorant Pride prevents Jacksonians from letting it go. But any other zoo anywhere in the world is better. Now it is just a blighted shame. Unfortunately, Jacksonians are the type who are never ashamed.
The Jackson Zoo shrinking isn’t the story—it’s the warning light on the dashboard.
Because here’s the reality people don’t want to say out loud: metro areas either grow together… or they decline together.
Across the country, Sun Belt metros—Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Nashville—aren’t just ‘lucky.’ They’re deliberately growing. In fact, large Sun Belt metros accounted for nearly half of all U.S. population growth in recent years.
And it’s not just growth—it’s where that growth is happening. The fastest gains are happening across entire metro areas, especially in the suburbs and outer counties.
Translation: those places didn’t abandon their core cities—they built ecosystems where the city and suburbs rise together.
Now here’s the uncomfortable part for folks who think living in Madison or Rankin County puts them on an island:
Suburbs don’t outrun decline—they absorb it.
National data shows poverty, population shifts, and economic strain have increasingly spread into the suburbs, not stayed contained in city centers.
And in most metros, suburban growth only works when the core city is still functioning as an anchor—jobs, culture, events, identity. When that weakens, the whole metro starts to hollow out from the inside.
So when the zoo shrinks… when downtown struggles… when investment dries up—that’s not “Jackson’s problem.”
That’s the region’s future knocking.
Meanwhile, our young people are making a different calculation. They’re not just leaving for jobs—they’re leaving for places that feel like they’re building something. Dallas. Houston. Nashville. Atlanta. Birmingham. Even smaller metros that are actually trying.
So what’s the plan here?
Are we going to invest in the kinds of things that make a metro competitive again—attractions, infrastructure, events, quality of life?
Or are we just going to keep pretending the suburbs will stay insulated while the core city slowly erodes?
Because that’s not how this works. Not anywhere in the country.
You don’t get a thriving suburb attached to a declining city.
You just get a slower version of the same decline
Move the Damn Zoo
SHUT IT DOWN and save the poor animals!
That's good news for animals.
Is this your way-too-long way of saying Jackson needs to keep the zoo?
Set up lots of grills and feed the locals.
But, but-- this is"our" zoo.
Why is everyone bitching about the Jackson zoo. It’s better than the Collins zoo on Hwy 49!
The COJ admin wants to keep the zoo open for the same reason they want control of the water system-- to avoid losing to "the man"
At this rate , there will soon be more employees than animals.
Maybe that's what they are shooting for.
@ 10:09am
If that’s your takeaway, you’re reducing a regional trend to a punchline. The zoo isn’t the argument—it’s a symptom.
And to be clear, I don’t particularly care whether the zoo stays or moves. That’s not the point.
The point is whether people are willing to pay attention to what these kinds of changes signal: declining investment in the things that make a metro area attractive, competitive, and sustainable over time.
Because when you zoom out, it’s not about one facility—it’s about the trajectory of the region as a whole.
MSA Populations
----------------------------
Dallas-Fort Worth ... 8,344,032
Houston ... 7,796,182
Atlanta ... 6,482,182
Nashville ... 2,197,416
Jackson (MSA) ... 609,847
Jackson (City) ... 141,449
9:21 clearly explained the decline of County Line Road properties and is correct that the decline will continue spreading
@9:21 nothng will change until you get crime under control. That is the elephant in the room nobody wants to address. There is a culture of crime and neglect in Jackson. This is a direct result of left wing policies.
More animal life at Rez.
I know families that take a day trip to Hattiesburg with their kids to visit the zoo at Kamper Park. Now, there's a zoo that reflects civic pride -- something sorely lacking among so many of Jackson's leaders and citizens. Travel down Woodrow Wilson Avenue's jarring "Medical Mile" and try to keep your car on the pavement that's being allowed to return to nature. Thousands of visitors to the VA, UMMC, and the doctors offices at Jackson Mall get an accurate impression of Jackson from that short stretch of neglect.
9:21 your explanation is obviously written by chatgpt but never the less, it is true and correct.
Nice AI comment. Maybe next time give your own viewpoint.
The Chandler, you are absolutely right about all that you said, but until the powers that be in Jackson decide that they want to address/solve the #1 problem (CRIME!!), the city and surrounding areas will continue to decline. And the city and judicial system have proven over the last 40 years that they are not interested in being tough on crime.
... it’s about the trajectory of the region as a whole.
You must be new here. It is probably the main reason why you seem to be tone deaf. The region has no control over the city in the center. All of your rhetoric is nothing more than empty words the region has heard ad nauseam.
@ April 15, 2026 at 10:33 AM
Those metro numbers reflect decades of sustained investment in jobs, housing, and infrastructure—not preference or “luck.”
Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta, and Nashville grew because they repeatedly made growth possible: they expanded employment, built housing at scale, and invested in the infrastructure that allows entire metro regions to function and compound over time.
Jackson sits in the geographic center of the Sun Belt, surrounded by some of the fastest-growing metros in the country. That’s not a disadvantage—that’s unrealized potential.
But proximity doesn’t convert itself into growth. It only matters if it’s paired with consistent investment and a functioning pipeline of jobs, housing, and development.
And on crime: it’s real, and it matters—but it’s not an explanation that ends the conversation. It’s also not unique to Jackson, nor is it sufficient on its own to explain decades of regional underperformance. High-growth metros have dealt with serious crime challenges while still managing to attract investment and expand their tax base.
The difference is they didn’t treat it as a ceiling—they treated it as one variable in a much larger system they had to fix.
Population is the scoreboard. Investment is the game. And systems—not excuses—determine who moves forward.
Jackson's projected population:
2030 133,070
2040 119,105
"There is a culture of crime and neglect in Jackson."
You left out Ted's observation about the culture of not paying bills.
I copied the link to this article and told Google Gemini to write a response. I'll be doggone, it actually does pretty good at this stuff:
"The 'shrinking' of the Jackson Zoo isn't a tragedy—it’s a math problem.
We’ve spent a decade watching a slow-motion collapse while city leadership pretends that a coat of paint or a new 'vision' will somehow bring the crowds back. Let’s be honest: you can’t run a 21st-century zoo in a city that can't consistently provide reliable water or safe streets. A zoo requires massive, specialized capital and a steady stream of tourists who feel safe enough to visit with their families. Jackson currently offers neither.
At this point, keeping it on life support is just cruel to the animals and disrespectful to the taxpayers. Without AZA accreditation, it’s essentially a high-maintenance park with empty cages. It’s time to stop the bleeding, safely rehome the remaining animals to facilities that actually have the budget to care for them, and turn out the lights.
Jackson needs to master the basics—pipes, police, and paving—before it tries to play zookeeper. We can’t afford the luxury of nostalgia anymore."
No, the Collins Zoo was better than the way the current conditions and collection at the Jackson Zoo.
There is nothing the people in the out skirts of Jackson can do to improve Jackson. Anything they try to do to help Jackson ends up with too many people who demand to be paid for allowing people to help Jackson. Crime is a big problem. The worst criminals are those who the people elect.
“The Chandler” is using ChatGPT to respond. If you can’t notice the clear signs, you’re a Boomer.
I have more animals than that in my front yard.
ChatGPT - Google v2.0
The animals are malnourished at Collins zoo
Move the poor animals to a zoo in another state and shut the non-working Jackson Zoo down. Surely there is a zoo in another state that would gladly save the poor animals having to suffer the Jackson Zoo. PLEASE!!
John Horhn's credibility as a true leader would soar overnight, in the eyes of the legislators and the state, if he would stop fighting the transfer of the airport, close the zoo and fast track the leasing of the water system.
Yes, and then put the zoo employees on the pot-hole crew. Lots of job security there.
Move the animals to another zoo -- give Hattiesburg first dibs. If one day in the future the city has become an attractive place for people to visit, then invite bidders to build a new zoo. But, I guarantee they won't be looking at West Jackson for the site.
KF please block AI written comments im about to throw up reading that slop
That road is a disgrace.
I just don't understand Jackson officials' obsession with keeping the Zoo open? The place is an embarassment.
Thankfully Woodrow Wilson is on the chopping block for a full tear out and redo. Work is about to start on the section from Mill St to MLK. Jackson is applying to the MPO for the funds to fix from Mill St to the interstate, coming soon. Do you believe that the MPO awarded Chokwe's admin the funds to do it and they "couldn't make use of the funds" in time?? Yet another f*ck up from that admin. There is no more important road in Jackson than WW or Lakeland. Both should be spotless at all times.
True. South Jackson would be a great site. Not.
Hattiesburg has a very good zoo and city leadership, led by Mayor Toby Barker, that supports the zoo by recognizing its value to the local economy. The fact that Toby Barker will be the mayor of the Hub City as long as he continues to seek reelection is a remarkable testament to his appeal across the city’s demographics, which racially is almost 55% Black.
KF, you made a good point when you took out the ' birds' and recalculated the numbers. An even better move would be to calculate the number of mammels - you know, the kind that have legs and feet. The inventory starts with a fair number of insects and then reptiles. Granted, they are a part of a good zoo just as birds are, but I doubt anybody is headed to a zoo in order to see the cockroaches or even the spiders - the attractions are those things that are big and move around like 'lions and tigers and bears oh my!'
Show some real leadership, and smart management Mayor and close the zoo. Don't know what you can do with some of the elderly and sickly animals, but trying to keep it open is nothing but maintaing a money pit and doing it when you don't have the money to spend on the necessary parts of a responsible budget.
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