The Tallahassee Museum may not be what you envision when you hear the word museum. It is a collection of historic structures, a concert venue, and also a zoo. The zoo adds to the historical education in its way; here, you can find animals long gone from the Florida panhandle: red wolves and Florida panthers. The animal staff at the museum cares for these critically endangered predators, and other more common species, ranging from box turtles to river otters to bald eagles.
Years ago, WSFU Ecology producer Rob Diaz de Villegas spent a year documenting the growth of a litter of red wolf puppies. During that time, he received an education in zoo science. As the Museum's Animal Curator, Suzie Buzzo, says, caring for these animals is more than feeding them and picking up their poop. The Tallahassee Museum features Florida native animals in a natural setting. Most of them are injured or have been orphaned at a young age and cannot survive in the wild. The staff maintains their setting, engages their animal senses in captivity, and provides medical care for these animals while educating Tallahasseans about the animals in their area.
There's more to zoo science than you might have imagined.
Our guests are:
Suzie Buzzo: Animal Curator at the Tallahassee Museum
Shelby Bush: Animal Operations Supervisor at the Tallahassee Museum
We talk about a lot of different animals on this episode of Coast to Canopy, and you can see most of them in the video version of this podcast. You can find this on the WFSU Ecology Blog, where we have additional photos of red wolves, Florida panthers, beavers, box turtles, alligators, and more: https://blog.wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/2025/12/zoo-science-at-the-tallahassee-museum/
Support ecology content on WFSU Public Media, such as Coast to Canopy, the WFSU Ecology Blog, and documentaries such as Finding the First Floridians and Secrets of the Seep, and we'll thank you on Coast to Canopy: https://wfsu.secureallegiance.com/wfsu/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=ECOBLOG&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=WOAaFle%2fdfH8yqgh03%2bHzezWDeZ%2beA1M
