Zoo looking up to new giraffe exhibit By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle Well, it is called the NEW Zoo, and these days, "new" is the key word. With plans well under way for a new carousel at the Suamico zoo, zoo officials on Tuesday announced plans for their next new exhibit: a unique giraffe viewing area to open in 2005. It's one of the biggest undertakings ever for the zoo, said director Neil Anderson, and not just because of the tall creatures. "It's an $800,000 project," he said. About $80,000 of that will be spent on the giraffes themselves, two of them. And you don't just call up the movers to get a giraffe from place to place. Anderson told students at Webster Elementary School in Allouez that even the mapping of the trip has to be planned. "They can't go through the underpasses, because you can't just tell a giraffe to duck," he said. When they get to the NEW Zoo, the giraffes will be in an enclosure featuring a walk-up tower allowing an "eye-to-eye" view of the creatures, and a chance to hand feed them. "It'll be the only one in the state like that, and maybe even Minnesota," he said. Giraffes grow between 15 and 19 feet tall, which made the children "ooh" and "ahh" when Anderson compared it to the upper reaches of their school's gymnasium. They also reacted when he told them giraffes have tongues up to 21 inches long. The fund-raising also started, with children invited to bring a dollar to school and have their name put on a giraffe-shaped tag to be displayed inside the school. The theme is "Give it UP for the giraffes." For more information on the fund-raising effort, call the zoo at 434-6814.