Gold Standard: Tucker’s tenure of innovation, inspiration resounds through Caldwell Zoo

TYLER, Texas ( KETK ) – The rich history of the Caldwell Zoo was made richer when Mike Tucker began working there as a teenager, but after 40 plus years of experience, the creative mind behind much of the zoo’s design is headed into retirement.

When you stroll through the Caldwell Zoo, there is always something new to experience. You’ll see something you haven’t seen before. It feels natural, like society and the wilderness from across the globe merged into a seamless setting.

From the hands-on experience of feeding a giraffe for the first time to watching the parakeets fly around you and your family waiting for you to drop a seed-covered popsicle stick, the memories and magic the zoo brings seems endless. And, it was specifically designed that way.

“We’ve always wanted the zoo to be an educational experience, an experience, where people learn through having fun,” Tucker said.

Tucker, as humble as they come, would not outright admit to you his creative process helped shaped the way the zoo was designed. However, his passion for the zoo, its visitors and the animals that call the Rose City home was never at the forefront of his mind when he began working there as a teenager.

Tucker told KETK News he started his career as a part time job at the zoo, and said the income was to help pay for dates between him and his high school girlfriend.

But, as the years went on, even taking a break to head to college, his love for the zoo grew into a career and passion he never thought would blossom into what it is today.

That passion grew with the zoo, leading him, another architect and longtime zoo director Hayes Caldwell to East Africa, searching for inspiration to add to an expansion of the Caldwell Zoo’s savannah and African exhibits.

“We made it where it had a flavor of Africa,” Tucker explained. “They [visitors] could pick that up and learn. That’s the whole point.”

It’s the details that often go overlooked where Tucker’s fingerprints are seen the most. You may have noticed the wooden architecture outlining the exhibits surrounding the lions, giraffes and elephant exhibits. Those are ideas, patterns and textures Tucker saw and brought back as inspiration to make the Caldwell Zoo feel like you’re in East Africa.

“We’ve got cedar posts on top and allow them to lose their bark and hang down on the sides,” Tucker said as he pointed out the details, “It may not be obvious to everyone, but we wanted it to be part of the experience here.”

However, it doesn’t stop at the exterior details of the enclosures, either. The seamless, often unknown and unseen barriers between exhibits make it feel like the animals are roaming together on the African plains.

“In the old zoo, we used caging to contain the animals,” Tucker said, “We wanted to use their natural behaviors to help us contain them.”

The most noticeable, or unnoticeable, being between the lions and African hoof stock.

“So, we created a moat that was 16 feet deep, 20 foot wide between the hoof stock and the lions,” Tucker explained. “The lions can’t get out of there and the hoof stock eventually learned that the lions can’t get out there.”

When looking at it through the glass windows of the lion exhibit, there is no barrier to be seen. But, if you look carefully from the giraffe feeding deck, you may catch a glance at the moat.

“Africa is not a series of animals that you see, it’s an ecosystem,” Tucker said. “They all live together. They all depend on each other. The trick is to try and show that to the public.”

Even the sky-high rock formations surrounding the lion exhibit has been studied and shown that lions cannot climb over that high of a structure. All designed with a purpose, and flawlessly executed.

But Tucker was not just a creative mind at the zoo, he was a family member. He was a friend. He was a staple, and some might call him a legend.

“It’ll be a void that’s going to be difficult to replace,” Zoo Director Hayes Caldwell said on the day of Tucker’s retirement.

Caldwell and Tucker going back to the day Tucker was hired, creating a friendship that has spanned 40+ years. Even Caldwell admitted he did not expect that teenager would become such a staple at the zoo when he was first hired.

Boy, was Caldwell glad he was wrong. As they took pictures together hours before Tucker would clock out for the last time, sharing a cupcake and posing with the declaration made by Tyler Mayor Don Warren honoring longtime on Friday by proclaiming May 31, 2024 as Mike Tucker Day. He looked back on the impacts he made on the zoo his family loved so much.

“I’m going to miss his sense of humor and his infectious laugh,” Caldwell said. “We know where he is just listening to his laughter. And, his positive outlook on things is what I’ll miss the most.”

Just like that, the end of Tucker’s working days at the zoo was over. But, his heart and fingerprints are still seen throughout. We had the opportunity to meet back up with Tucker on his first trip back to the Caldwell Zoo since retiring, sharing a bittersweet moment with the longtime employee.

“It’s a little melancholy, you know?” Tucker said, “I really am enjoying retirement, but I do miss what I did my whole life long and I think about it all the time.”

Tucker took us on one last stroll through the zoo, sharing with us some of the designs he had brainstormed in the past and new ones to come in the future, such as exhibit ideas for the upcoming Amazon River’s Edge exhibits opening later this year.

Tucker, feeling the weight of the years of memories, but witnessing the impact on generations to come. That’s why Tucker meets and exceeds the Gold Standard in my book.

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