Southwick's Zoo EARTH's animal ambassadors which include macaws, a bush baby, porcupine, turtles, snakes, bearded dragons, and other reptiles. These animals are used in EARTH's education programs including live presentations at the zoo, ZooMobiles, and Wild Adventure Programs for younger students. Southwick's Zoo has four big cat exhibits; lions, bengal tigers african leopard, and the recently added cheetahs. Southwick's Zoo opened their larger, updated giraffe exhibit in 2011. In 2010, the zoo also began offering giraffe encounters on weekends. The zoo has the largest primate collection in New England. Species of primates found at Southwick's Zoo include chimpanzees, white-handed gibbons, siamangs, mandrills,
Beardsley Zoo the zoo, purchased the zoo from the city. The society continues to run the zoo as a private, nonprofit institution with assistance from the state of Connecticut and the city of Bridgeport. In 2007, the zoo became the first in the Northeast to exhibit Chacoan peccaries. In October 2011, it also became the first zoo in the Northeast to breed the species. On July 25, 2009, the zoo, in partnership with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), held an Exotic Animal Amnesty Day, where people could turn in their exotic pets to the state without fear of