Warren won’t get cheetah facility
Zoo does have plans to improve, add barns in Turtlecreek Twp.
— The Cincinnati Zoo LEBANON & Botanical Garden has set aside plans to move its cheetah recovery center to Warren County, but is moving forward with improvements to a farm and wetlands area already operating here, according to the county’s chief zoning official.
“They’re not going to build the cheetah breeding facility. That’s off the table,” Mike Yetter, zoning supervisor in Warren County said.
Yetter, who reviews plans for developments in unincorporated areas of Warren County, made these comments while sharing details of plans by the zoo to add and improve barns and make
other improvements to the EcoFarm on Mason-Montgomery Road in Turtlecreek Twp.
Zoo officials confirmed the cheetah recovery center would not be moving from Mast Farm east of Cincinnati in Clermont County.
“We do not intend to build the cheetah breeding facility at our farm in Warren County,” Michelle Curley, Communications Director for the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, said by email.
Development near the Warren County site may have played a role in the zoo’s decision. An industrial park off Ohio 63 almost runs to the property line where the cheetah facility was proposed. “The development of land near the farm is of concern to the zoo,” Curley said.
But success at the Clermont site is a factor in the decision.
“Since 2002, 59 cubs have been born at the Mast Farm facility,” Curley said.
Zoo officials are moving forward with other improvement plans at the Warren County facility.
Plans for a new barn, a wall, a solar-powered pit toilet and other improvements are detailed in documents filed with zoning and building officials in Warren County. With building permits in hand, the zoo was expected to begin construction soon.
The barn “will allow us to harvest and store alfalfa and other grasses to feed to our animals at the zoo,” Curley said. “We will also be upgrading our native plant propagation efforts, installing a permanent restroom, upgrading the site utilities, and enlarging the parking capacity for our volunteers.”
In January, the zoo put on hold plans to move its cheetah facility to a farm at the corner of Nickel and Hamilton roads, while considering a different site after questioning steps Warren County required for safety.
Zoo officials met with staff from the Warren County Regional Planning Commission about relocating the cheetah recovery center and a run where the cats chase lures - and land speed records - during public viewings.
The facility was to be built near the home of Cathryn Hilker, a cheetah conservationist who pioneered the zoo’s Cat Ambassador Program, who lives in Turtlecreek Twp.
The facilities, along with trails and ponds, were to be located on a new proposed site of more than 600 acres the zoo owns nearby at Mason-Montgomery and Hamilton roads, rather than at Nickel and Hamilton, as previously planned.
Warren County officials envisioned the cheetahs as another tourist attraction in what they market as “Ohio’s Largest Playground.”
Last week, a house and barns had been cleared from the property at Nickel and Hamilton and the farm and wetlands area down Hamilton at Mason-Montgomery seemed to be closed up for the winter.
In Clermont County, Kathleen Williams, the county government’s public information officer, said county officials were unaware of the zoo’s decision.
“Whatever efforts have