Somerset Co., PA (WJAC) — Somerset County Chamber of Commerce members, along with leaders from the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium discussed the future of the International Conservation Center housed right within the county on Wednesday.
Leaders say the one-thousand-acre property in Fairhope is currently home to five breeding elephants, including a recently newborn calf.
They say their goal is to continue growing the center to the point where it can house several other endangered animals and eventually release them back into the wild and sustain the captive population.
"It's an incredible, incredible asset. Very few zoos have that type of facility where you have literally a thousand acres. We harvest all of our hay for the zoo on the property and have a lot of sustainable practices that we're practicing out there and a lot of people don't know about it. It is kind of this hidden gem,” said Jeremy Goodman, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.
Goodman says the center isn't open to the public right now but that they hope to open it up for area residents so they can enjoy the animals there.
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