MIDLAND, Texas — It’s been the talk of the town for the past four months.
Zoo Midland was announced in October of 2023, and the hype hasn't died down.
A project that’s been in the works for years, the Tall City will be getting some tall and short friends in the formerly Nueva Vista Golf Club’s land.
With a project as large as a full-size elephant, it takes a real king of the jungle to take on something this big.
And Jason Green, the zoo director, is the king of the Zoo Midland Jungle.
Green is not new to the animal kingdom, having worked with zoos for more than 30 years.
Previously working with Zoo Tampa and Busch Gardens in Florida, it’s been quite a journey going from the Big Guava to the Tall City.
"So it was kind of happenstance that I came to meet the investment group for Zoo Midland, they were doing a 'best practices,'" Green said. "So they were going to several zoos in Florida. And they were looking at different facilities and they happened to come to the facility I was working at (Zoo Tampa), and we just started talking and had you known shared objectives and some shared ideas and so we kind of spoke briefly off and on for about a year and then they're like, 'we're going to do this. We'd love to you have to be a part of it.' So it's extremely fortunate. And it's just a great opportunity."
An opportunity to create something huge for a growing city --- all basically from scratch.
And part of being the "King of the Jungle" is making sure the rest of the jungle is safe for the other animals and the visitors.
Being a member of organizations like the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and hearing other zoo’s problems and triumphs definitely helps the process.
"We want to make sure we put an incredibly good product out there for the animals and for the guests," Green said. "And so you know a lot of time is just spent like ‘is this fence right? Is this viewpoint good?' Or 'is this enough space for the animals' and 'what elements can we add to make their lives very enriching?'"
With the interesting climate Midland has, one thing was vastly important to Green.
"We wanted to make sure we picked animals that were appropriate to this climate," Green said. "Midland kind of has a unique environment to some degree, but there's other zoos in the same climate that we can kind of utilize some of that information."
One way Green wants Zoo Midland to stand out is the accessibility visitors have to so many animals.
"I think one of the biggest things and where zoos can play a huge role is having sort of that meaningful interaction with animals," Green said. "It changes people, you know, being able to stand next to a 4,000 pound Rhino or to be able to feed a giraffe or to be able to see a giant tortoise that can live to be 150 years old, you know, that sort of gives us a new greater appreciation for the world around us and how we can help protect it and take care of it and kind of take care of the animals and the environment in our care."
And let's just say there's a reason Green has been in his profession for more than 30 years and counting.
"The zoo field is amazing," Green said. "I've been extremely fortunate. I've traveled to Africa a couple times, Australia as well as just the unique opportunities you get when you get the opportunity to work around some endangered species and animals that are threatened and being able to spend time and have relationships with them. It's incredibly rewarding."
And more than anything, Green hopes he can educate the future of the Permian Basin about animals, something they might not have been exposed to before.
"It's the awareness and the appreciation, I think, is one of the biggest things zoos can bring to community," Green said. "Especially with kids and zoos, you know, a lot of times should be oriented towards the kids because you see that wonder and an awe of being near those animals."
Those same kids also have the opportunity to potentially work at a zoo right in their hometown, something they haven't been able to do in over 40 years.
"That's been one of the coolest comments we've gotten from people like 'oh my daughter [...] she's a vet tech or he's doing this' and, because it wasn't available in Midland. [...] Now they can come back and do that," said Green.
Green isn’t the only one excited for the new zoo.
"The biggest thing is to see how excited everybody is," Green said. "It was awesome to see the kids are excited. You know, the parents are excited and knowing how important a zoo can be to the community and how I think they're going to really embrace it, they already kind of have and kind of become something for the city to be proud of. And when people come into Midland they go, ‘Oh, you have to go to the zoo and you have to see this and, you know, to be a part of that’. That's really exciting."
People who have that excitement might not have to wait as long as they originally thought.
"We'll break ground probably in the next month to 45 days," Green said. "And so then I think a lot of people who are kind of like 'really?' there'll be like, 'Oh, wow, it actually is happening!' Unfortunately, I would love to sprinkle pixie dust, it'd be built but it's going to take about three years to do that. And so it'll seem like a long time and then boom, it'll be here and so that's exciting as well."
Because who would have thought; in a town that's covered with dust and oil, the Tall City would be ready to take a safari ride on nature's wild side.