Stingray Cove closes at the Sedgwick County Zoo on Sunday, November 1, after five seasons. The zoo announced the date on September 23, and the reason is not a disappointing one: the touch pool was always a rented experience, its five-year contract with Living Exhibits has run out, and the zoo now wants to build a stingray habitat of its own.
The rays are not going anywhere unhappy. They belong to Living Exhibits’ collection, and they move on to other partner institutions when the season ends.
What Stingray Cove was
An outdoor, seasonal touch pool, open since 2021, where guests could put a hand in the water with cownose and Southern stingrays and pay a little extra to feed them. It became one of the most popular things at the Wichita zoo, which is the part that matters for what happens next.
The partnership with Stingray Cove was very popular and well-received, but it was always intended to be a temporary experience. We know that our community would like to see them stay, but in order to have stingrays permanently, we first need to build a facility that can house them safely year-round, rather than an outdoor, seasonal space.
Scott Newland, President and CEO, Sedgwick County Zoo
The actual news: a permanent stingray habitat is in the master plan
This is the line in the announcement worth circling. The zoo says Stingray Cove’s success has demonstrated that a permanent stingray habitat would be a welcome addition, and that such a habitat sits in a future phase of development under its master plan.
That is a real distinction, not a softer way of saying goodbye. A seasonal outdoor pool in Kansas is a different engineering problem from a year-round one. Kansas winters mean a permanent ray habitat needs an indoor building, heating, and a life support system sized to hold water chemistry steady through months when nobody is visiting. Life support is the unglamorous half of every aquarium: pumps, filtration, protein skimming, temperature and salinity control, running continuously. You do not bolt that onto a summer attraction. You build it, and it goes in a capital plan.
The zoo has kept up a steady run of additions in the meantime: an eastern black rhino named Dalia arrived in August. A stingray building would be the next thing in that line rather than a replacement for what is closing.
Going before it goes
There is time. Stingray Cove is open through Sunday, November 1, entry is free with zoo admission, and feedings can be bought with an attraction ticket. To mark the last weekend, the zoo is running half-price admission from Friday, October 30 through Sunday, November 1.
A cownose ray coming up under your hand is, for a lot of Kansas children, the first wild animal they ever touched. Five seasons of that is a good run, and the zoo’s answer to losing it is to build a better version. Go and say goodbye, then watch the master plan.
Source: Sedgwick County Zoo, September 23, 2026.
Quick answers
- When does Stingray Cove close?
Sunday, November 1, 2026. Entry is free with zoo admission until then, and stingray feedings can be bought with an attraction ticket. The Sedgwick County Zoo is running half-price admission from Friday, October 30 through Sunday, November 1 to mark the final weekend.
- Why is Stingray Cove closing?
It was always a temporary, seasonal attraction. Its five-year contract with Living Exhibits has run out. The rays belong to the Living Exhibits collection and move on to other partner institutions.
- Will the Sedgwick County Zoo get stingrays again?
The zoo says a permanent stingray habitat is included in a future phase of development under its master plan. A year-round habitat needs an indoor building and a life support system, which is why it belongs in a capital plan rather than in a seasonal contract. No date has been announced.
