Moapa animal attraction Roos-N-More will soon be no more

After a lengthy battle with Clark County commissioners, the popular Roos-N-More animal attraction in Moapa is calling it quits.

Representatives of the zoo 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas said they plan to find new homes for their exotic menagerie and shut down for good by Dec. 31.

“In the end we don’t plan to keep any animals,” said zoo administrator Felisha Scholz. “They will all be rehomed.”

Scholz declined to say why the facility is closing, but Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick said the zoo was struggling to live up to the terms of an agreement it made with the county last year that allowed the nonprofit sanctuary to reopen after being shut for code violations in January 2014.

When she visited Roos-N-More in October, for example, Kirkpatrick was dismayed to see it still hadn’t installed secondary barriers around some enclosures to keep visitors from sticking their fingers directly into the cages.

“I know I’m seen as the bad guy, but I was trying to give them a window,” said Kirkpatrick, who worked extensively on last year’s agreement. “It could be a great destination, but at the end of the day we have to put some protections in place for the animals and for the public.”

Husband-and-wife veterinarians Jay and Valerie Holt opened the zoo in 2009 to show off their growing collection of exotic pets — including kangaroos, camels, llamas, monkeys, otters and other animals — at their home in Moapa.

Their trouble with the county began three years later, after an inspection revealed numerous paperwork problems and code violations, including a lack of flush toilets or a commercial septic system.

Last year, county officials gave the zoo provisional approval to reopen as soon as the Holts brought the property up to code and met 34 other conditions and restrictions, including limits on the days of operation, visitor volume, the number and the type of animals and a ban on breeding.

The Holts said the renovations cost them more than $600,000, roughly half of which came from a single 2014 fundraiser hosted by Zappos.com in downtown Las Vegas.

The zoo reopened in July, this time with an 11-member board of directors to oversee operation and finances.

Apparently money was not the driving force behind the decision to close.

“We actually were self-sustaining,” said Scholz, declining to elaborate on the decision to close.

A message left for Jay Holt was not immediately returned Thursday.

Scholz said the focus right now is on transferring the zoo’s roughly 100 different types of animals to various facilities, zoos and institutions registered with the county.

She added that Roos-N-More plans to keep some animals through the end of January to honor its agreement to provide educational programs at some Clark County schools.

It’s unclear what might happen after that. In its letter to the county, the zoo officials said they plan to apply for an exotic animal permit, “reduce the number of animals to a manageable level and continue with off-site educational programs.”

The Holts have operated a veterinary practice in Las Vegas since 1990. They began collecting exotic animals in 2002, when Jay gave Valerie a wallaby named Pogo for her birthday.

In recent years, Valerie has been slowed by chronic auto-immune disease that has severely limited her involvement in the zoo.

Roos-N-More will open to the public one last time from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 17. There is a suggested donation of $10 at the gate.

The event could draw quite a crowd. When the zoo announced its closure in a Facebook post Wednesday night, several hundred people replied with messages of concern and dismay.

“We truly appreciate your support and patronage, yet the time has come to find our beloved animals new homes where they can continue to thrive,” the zoo’s post read. “Meet the keepers, and say your goodbyes to these wonderful animals. We are grateful for your final show of support.”

Contact Sandy Lopez at slopez@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4686. Follow @JournalismSandy on Twitter. Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.