Local Scout Designs New Exhibit At The Chattanooga Zoo

Chattanooga, TN (WDEF-TV) – Something new is crawling into view at the zoo today and it comes with a personal touch. A local Scout helped design a brand-new exhibit for the Forsten’s tortoises, and it officially opened this week.

The Forsten’s tortoises are moving into a colorful new home. A local Scout Evea Baldwin spent months designing and hand-painting the backdrop as part of a special Scout project at the zoo.

Eva Baldwin, “So being able to have people learn new skills to help the community through this project that will continue helping the community was really awesome, especially because I got to reach out to Scouts in Sulawesi and learned about the islands of the tortoises are from.”

Eva says she spent time searching for the right project, something creative, meaningful, and would make a lasting impact.

Eva, “The zoo got back immediately and they were super helpful. They wanted to meet like that week and they gave me a list of exhibits or things that they need help with and I got to pick one.”

Zoo leaders say projects like this help connect young people to conservation while also giving animals a more engaging space for guests to experience.

Jake Cash from the Chattanooga Zoo, “Definitely appreciate Eva and all the scouts to come out and do great projects here. She created such a great use of the space. It’s helping us bring animals. They used to live behind the scenes out so they can see them and she did such a wonderful job on the enclosure with the hand-painted murals, the shade structures. Everything was really great. She was a pleasure to work with, all of our zoo submission was wonderful.”

The new exhibit is officially open and ready for zoo guests.