Zoo Atlanta has started the construction of a $22 million veterinary complex that will be known as Rollins Animal Health Center.
“The project is a long time coming,” said Zoo Atlanta’s president and CEO, Raymond B. King. “We have a first-class veterinary staff that is about to finally have a first-class veterinary facility.”
The complex’s name honors the Gary W. Rollins Foundation, which donated $3 million toward the project.
“The Rollins Animal Health Center will replace outdated facilities and enable the zoo to fully inhabit its growing reputation for excellence in veterinary care,” King said.
“We are deeply grateful to the members of our philanthropic community, who have shown us by their gifts that they have a strong investment in Zoo Atlanta’s indelible place in Atlanta and beyond.”
The Zoo Atlanta veterinary team looks after more than 200 animal species, from elephants to frogs.
The veterinary complex will include a laboratory, pharmacy, radiology unit, treatment and surgical areas, a CT scanner, interior and exterior holding dens, five quarantine dens, a food preparation kitchen, a necropsy suite, and office and conference space.
Zoo Atlanta raised $21 million in the six months before the July 27 groundbreaking.
“We are so very grateful and so very excited this day has arrived,” associate veterinarian Dr. Kate Leach said. “We are thrilled to be moving into a space that will pull us together into one amazing, state-of-the-art 16,000-square-foot facility.”
Construction is expected to be completed by the summer of 2024.