A petition campaign is being launched in an effort to save the highly popular Insect Zoo at Iowa State University, which officials plan to close at semester’s end after three decades in operation. Ginny Mitchell says in her 13 years as the educational program coordinator, the Insect Zoo has reached more than 500,000 Iowans, mostly children, through the Ames campus and during visits to schools, libraries and other facilities across the state.
The Insect Zoo is home to more than 175 species of arthropods, as well as spiders, scorpions and all sorts of other creatures. Mitchell’s job is being eliminated, along with those of ten I-S-U students from the Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology who help run the zoo and take it on the road.
While ISU’s Reiman Gardens may be able to add some of the insects from the zoo to its collection in the butterfly habitat, the future remains uncertain for the many dozens of other rare, living specimens. The petition on the website www.change.org is collecting digital signatures and supporters’ stories about the Insect Zoo, while donations can be made to help with its deficit through the Iowa State Foundation. Mitchell remains hopeful ISU officials will change their minds about their decision to shut down the Insect Zoo.
The deficit started to mount during the shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and snowballed, according to Mitchell, and the Insect Zoo is now about 150-thousand dollars in the red. The facility is slated for closure on June 30th.
