SALISBURY, Md. - In 1954, the same year Elvis Presley released his first single and Dwight D. Eisenhower served as President of the United States, Delmarva was marking its own historic milestones with the debut of WBOC Television and the opening of the Salisbury Zoo.
On July 15, 1954, WBOC-TV first broadcasted, offering a new source of education, information, and entertainment to the region. The exact date of the Salisbury Zoo's opening remains unknown, but according to Zoo Director Chuck Eichholz, it started with a single deer. "It started in 1954. We don't have an exact time period, but basically it was a deer that was here and people started taking care of it. So basically that was the start of the Zoo," Eichholz explained.
From these modest beginnings, the zoo quickly expanded as the community began to bring more animals. "People were starting to drop off other animals like ducks and chickens, so really it started evolving and at some point, they hired a full-time keeper to take care of the animals," Eichholz added.
A significant moment in the shared history of WBOC and the Salisbury Zoo happened in 2017 when WBOC's Bill Mich and Chris Weimer traveled to Ecuador. They documented the zoo's efforts to bring an Andean bear named "Pinocchio" to Salisbury. "Within minutes of meeting us, Pinocchio was taking food from our hands like he had known us for years," Mich noted at the time.
"Being able to document that and bring it back to people on Delmarva so they can see all the awesome conservation work that's happening down in Ecuador and all the other home range countries is fantastic," said Jessica Mandelson, the Zoo's registrar.
Looking forward, the Salisbury Zoo plans significant upgrades. "Really the Zoo is going to be upgraded, every facility, every exhibit is going to get some kind of makeover or totally redone," said Eichholz.
Similarly, WBOC-TV continues to evolve, marking nearly seven decades as Delmarva's News Leader.
