What is Bear Hollow Wildlife Trail?
Bear Hollow is a facility of the Athens-Clarke County Department of Leisure Services. It is open from 9:00 a.m. to sunset everyday. The mission of the facility is to help the community understand our place in and reliance upon natural systems through interpretive education and the use of Georgia's native wildlife.
  History of the Zoo
Since it's creation in the late 1940's, the zoo has undergone many changes having started as a private collection of wild animals which had been donated to the Athens zoo. For many years, Bear Hollow was a traditional, old-style zoo with a mix of native and unwanted exotic pets. A number of domestic animals were also housed and the facility was considered a petting zoo. Over time, problems developed and major renovations became necessary.
  Creation of the present-day zoo

In the early 1980's the people of Athens supported the idea of rebuilding the zoo. A federal grant was secured to match locally-raised funds for the construction. In 1985 the name was changed to Bear Hollow Wildlife Trail to reflect a change in mission, operation, and philosophy of the zoo.

The decision was made that the facility would contain only non-releasable native wildlife housed in natural habitat exhibits. Construction of the new facility began in 1985 and in May of 1987 the grand opening was held. Most of the actual construction was completed by a talented and dedicated group of government employees. The entire project, however, was truly a community effort of donations of money and materials resulting in a dream becoming a reality.