Merle Hay 'mall zoo' to close doors in fall

The controversial "mall zoo" will close by Oct. 31 — and could morph into a $20 million drive-through wildlife park near Altoona.

The Academy of Wildlife Education and its bears, wolves and other wild animals on display in Des Moines' Merle Hay Mall aroused a public outcry in June from citizens who thought it was no place for them. An online petition to "stop the zoo" had gathered 74,000 signatures.

The timing of the announcement a month after the issue was first reported in The Des Moines Register had nothing to do with the petition, said Elizabeth Holland, the mall's chief operating officer.

As the $14 million redevelopment of the mall takes shape, the mall needed to aggregate spaces to create more room for larger storefronts, she said.

The wildlife academy made its own announcement soon after. The nonprofit Pella Wildlife Co., which operates the academy, made an agreement with RRDJ Enterprises to purchase 103 acres on the northwest corner of the junction of Interstate Highway 80 and U.S. Highway 65 near Altoona for a drive-through animal park and wildlife rehabilitation facility.

Ron DeArmond, Pella Wildlife's chief operating officer, also said the petition wasn't a factor. "I've been working on this for four years," he said.

The facility, called When Iowa Was Wild, will feature 10 to 20 acres of wildlife habitats where wildlife native to Iowa will roam freely. Vehicles will be allowed to drive through each habitat to take photos and video of species including pronghorn antelope, mule and white-tailed deer, moose, black bear, elk, wolf, cougar, bison and others.

He said that the facility will cost $20 million and that a fundraising campaign has begun on Indiegogo.com, a crowdfunding website. The campaign will officially kick off at the Iowa State Fair.

The land has been owned by the farming Sandquist family since 1952. Joleen Sandquist Roskamp and her three brothers put it up for sale after the death of their father. She said they thought a wildlife park project was better than a corporate big box at that location. They will give DeArmond's organization 60 days to come up with the money to buy the land.

"It's a great location. We've been looking to do this since the inception of the organization in 2009," DeArmond said. "Urban wildlife is a big issue. As conflicts with wildlife increase, we need to educate Iowans. If they are aware, the next time a cougar shows up in Iowa, they don't whack it."

But the Des Moines woman who launched the petition in early June over concern for the animals housed in cages in the mall said there's no doubt the public pressure led to the mall location closing.

"He was smug in not hearing our concerns. He would call us radicals," said Rita Mason of DeArmond. "It makes me feel good."

It's rare to have wild animals displayed in a shopping mall, but DeArmond said his goal was putting wildlife conservation and education before the most people.

The petitioners who commented were concerned that the animals were not in a habitat that replicated their natural environment, which the new facility will address.

But Mason worries about what will happen to the animals in the interim. DeArmond said he hopes to house them in facilities on the land once a deal is made and to have the park open by summer 2015.