Turtle Back Zoo earns first-ever ZAA accreditation

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Turtle Back Zoo has earned accreditation for the first time from the Zoological Association of America. The five-year accreditation was awarded Monday, April 3, and is good through 2022. The ZAA is the second zoological organization to accredit Turtle Back Zoo; the facility has received accreditation from the Association of […]

County parks system earns three awards

WEST ORANGE / MONTCLAIR, NJ — The Essex County Parks System received three awards from the New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association on March 7. The African Adventure Giraffe Exhibit and Savanna Cafe at Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange and the Essex County Glenfield Park Playground in Montclair were given the Excellence in Design […]

DiVincenzo gives State of the County Address

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. presented his 14th annual State of the County Address on Monday, Feb. 27, in the Essex County Hospital Center in Cedar Grove. The multimedia presentation outlined county achievements and improvement projects completed in 2016, highlighted the services and programs offered by Essex County and announced […]

Sea Turtle Recovery Center opens at TBZ

Sea Turtle Recovery Center opens at TBZ

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Prudential Sea Turtle Recovery Center at Turtle Back Zoo officially opened Friday, Feb. 10. Essex County partnered with nonprofit Sea Turtle Recovery to operate the facility, which will nurse cold-stunned or injured turtles back to health so they can be released back into the ocean. Looking at sea turtles in […]

Turtle Back Zoo’s groundhog sees his shadow

According to rodent, we can expect six more weeks of winter

Turtle Back Zoo’s groundhog sees his shadow

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Essex Ed, resident groundhog at Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, saw his shadow on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2. The Groundhog Day legend states that if the groundhog sees his shadow, we will have six more weeks of winter weather. In addition, Essex Ed predicted that the Atlanta Falcons would defeat […]

New Jersey’s newest rehabilitation center welcomes first sea turtles

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The first injured sea turtles arrived last month at New Jersey’s new and only long-term sea turtle rehabilitation center, the Sea Turtle Recovery at Turtle Back Zoo. The 10 Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were transported from the New England Aquarium in Massachusetts, where the season has already brought nearly 450 cold […]

Turtle Back Zoo announces new attendance record

WEST ORANGE, NJ — On Wednesday, Dec. 21, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. welcomed the Vickers family from Bloomfield as the 755,240th visitors to Turtle Back Zoo during 2016. This breaks the annual attendance record set last year and is the 12th consecutive year that a new annual attendance record has been established. “We […]

Become a volunteer docent at the Turtle Back Zoo

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Essex County Turtle Back Zoo is recruiting volunteers for the 2017 Docent Class. Docents are volunteer educators who give educational talks, act as tour guides and are stationed throughout the Zoo to provide information to visitors about the Zoo and its animal collection. This is a highly selective volunteer position and […]