The Topeka Zoo has gotten back into the good graces of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The Zoo learned Sunday that the AZA found enough "forward progress" being made at the troubled facility to reinstate the zoo to full accreditation. Zoo director Brendan Wiley says the news from the AZA meeting in Tennessee this past weekend is a boost for the Topeka Zoo, which had come under fire for animal deaths, sloppy recordkeeping and unsanitary conditions in recent years.
A loss of accreditation would have prevented the Topeka Zoo from sharing animals with other facilities that are approved members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.