Customer Success Story: York's Wild Kingdom

Name: Mika Nurmikko Location: York, ME Building Size: 55' W x 100' L with roll-up sides Application: Zoo Exhibit

Step inside York's Wild Kingdom Butterfly House and enter a Costa Rican tropical rainforest where alligators swim in shallow water, Collard Anteaters snooze in live tree branches, and Toucans, Plush-crested Jays, Buff-crested Bustards, Derbyan Parakeets and Blue-breasted Quail preen themselves. A plethora of rare and colorful butterflies — 200 to 500 — fly freely within this enclosed tropical habitat. You can watch them hatch from their chrysalis and fly around the building's interior, a re-created Central American eco system complete with waterfalls, live orchids, verdant foliage and a tank full of salt water fish, Brain Corals, Feather Dusters, Sea and Carpet Anemones.

"This building had to go up in nine months. It needed to be fairly simple and quick to construct since I would be putting most of it up on my own." — Mika Nurmikko

Several years ago, when planning the Butterfly Kingdom, zoo director, Mika Nurmikko, started looking for the right structure to house the exhibit. Mr. Nurmikko says that in creating this "biodiversity," he knew he wanted a structure that offered natural lighting and some temperature control, but also one that was exceptionally economical.

"I financed this exhibit myself," he says. "I like to try new things. This building had to go up in nine months. It needed to be fairly simple and quick to construct since I would be putting most of it up on my own. We used a Bobcat tractor and made some modifications to the building so that we could secure it to prevent animals from getting out and coming inside. We put 1/4" welder wire around everything — two feet outside and three feet inside so that nothing can dig out or in. We also anchored the legs to six by six telephone posts to prevent slippage and modified the base surface to minimize erosion and avoid frost heaves."

"The illumination and temperature are very good. I absolutely love this building. There is no waste. That's important to me because when I save money, I can put it back into keeping animals from becoming extinct. Our mission is to preserve, propagate and educate. The more economically I build, the more I can put back into ecology. For three months in the winter I work in the Monkey Park, a foundation in Costa Rica where we rescue and rehabilitate Howler Monkeys that have been hurt by the region's rapid development. I could use a ClearSpan building in that environment. I also plan to build another one in the New England area."

To find out more about York's Wild Kingdom and the Butterfly Kingdom, visit www.yorkzoo.com.

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