TAMPA, Fla. — ZooTampa, The Florida Aquarium and Busch Gardens hosted the 2025 Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Annual Conference.
Professionals from zoos and aquariums worldwide attended the annual conference, held at the Tampa Convention Center.
Watch report from Julie Salomone
On Thursday, ZooTampa opened its doors to attendees.
"Aquarium and zoo professionals that were in town for this conference are now enjoying the zoo, trying to see what we offer both from food, behind the scenes encounters, and of course, the wildlife in our care," said Arinn Bolin, Director of Guest Engagement at ZooTampa.
Guests arrived by bus at ZooTampa. They had a chance to enjoy animal exhibits, food and drinks.
They also received a sneak peek at upcoming exhibits.
Jared Russell is a construction manager at ZooTampa. He took guests and Tampa Bay 28 into the construction zone to see "Manatee Rescue," which is scheduled to open in Spring 2026.
Once the exhibit opens, visitors will view manatees, otters and moon jellyfish.
"Our old otter habitat used to have a bunch of artificial rocks, artificial trees, artificial plants and now we are going to more real trees, more plants, more rocks," said Russell.
Windy Arey Kent is a conservation program manager with AZA SAFE Sharks and Rays, a global program to save sharks. She attended the annual conference and visited ZooTampa on Thursday night.
"We have over 3,000 people at our conference this week. It's an opportunity not just for networking, but it's really for learning, sharing information and to see what our colleagues are doing all across the world in AZA accredited facilities so we can increase our collaboration," she said.
Paul Cox also attended the conference. He is the CEO of Shark Trust and lives in London.
"I use to work in aquariums and I spent a lot of time in aquariums, talking to people, talking about the animals that they saw and sharks always came up as an interesting topic, always something that people were interested in, but sometimes the communication around sharks isn't the best so I really wanted to kinda of address that and get into this field," said Cox.
The conference took place from September 13 to 18.
Share Your Story with Julie
From the courtroom to your commute, Julie Salomone works to share the issues that matter to you. She also focuses on the day-to-day issues in Sarasota County, so be sure to reach out to Julie to start a conversation.
.
Homeowners schedule a 'March on the Capitol' to protest Florida's HOAs
A Tampa Bay couple is organizing a march on the state capitol to protest Florida’s homeowners’ associations.
