We’ve been going to AZA for over 25 years!!! And always enjoy our experience in the end. We’ve always learned something, we’ve met new people that have turned into long-term friends and we’ve experienced new places. In fact, it’s been an opportunity for Gail and I to take a vacation nearby either before or after the conference and take a deep dive into exploring some great parts of the US (Seattle, New Orleans, Kansas City to name a few). With this year being virtual, we took the opportunity to create Virtual Exhibit Booth where we hope to engage with you about how your life has been during theses times. We know it’s been tough on everyone, but when things get tough, we zoo folks get creative.


Ursa is, at heart, a zoo design firm, but more importantly, we are a Zoo support organization. We like to think of ourselves as an integral part of the zoo community, helping to solve problems, offer suggestions and guide solutions to your most critical issues. Today those issues aren’t so much – a renovation to your ancient bear enclosure, or a concept plan for your latest future acquisition or visitor experience; but now we get involved with how you can transform your zoo into the new more safe, inclusive environment; one that welcomes all either through virtual programs or through smaller attended real time experiences.


We wanted to take this opportunity to share news from Ursa, and hope you find time during the conference to stop by at the Virtual Exhibit Booth, and download some of our documents available on it. We’ve written some papers that may interest you as well as our qualifications and project briefs. We also have a Flyer that talks about what’s new at Ursa as this year we have moved to Belize! And has it ever been the best time to do that as we all begin to provide remote services, as long as we have an internet account we can easily communicate.


We also have a few videos to share that we hope you will take the time to watch. One of them is a quick visit to our latest exhibit at Zoo Atlanta for Elephants and other Savanna species that you might hear more about at the “What’s New in Zoo Design” session on Thursday morning. We also put together a video documenting 25 years of beautiful watercolor renderings by Barbara Ratner that we have commissioned that depict some of the wide diversity of animal projects we have been involved with over the years. The last one is a bit of a more personal one, where Gail and I show you one of the amazing sites in our new hometown of San Ignacio, Belize where 3000 years ago, a Mayan community made their home at the high point of the town, and has stood as a sacred place in the heart of the city.


We hope to hear from you and hear how you are doing. For those we have known for years – check in a say hello. For those we haven’t met, maybe this is a good time to introduce yourselves and share a little about what your passions are, and we can show you what makes Ursa a special part of AZA. Let’s schedule a zoom call and see what we can do for you.