Paddock would nurse wild animals back to health, and by 1959 his menagerie contained over 125 birds and mammals.

The name was changed to Charles Paddock Zoo in honor of its founder in 1980.

[2] In 2010, while the zoo was under review for re-accreditation, it started a series of renovations and maintenance updates including new roofs, repaving, new public fencing, and a long list of other smaller projects.

[3] Birds at the zoo include black-necked stilt, Inca tern, Mandarin duck, ring-necked parakeet, ringed teal, roseate spoonbill, scarlet ibis, Sulawesi ground dove, and white-faced whistling duck in the aviary, blue and gold macaw, double yellow-headed amazon parrot, salmon-crested cockatoo, and scarlet macaw at the Parrot Pond, as well as burrowing owl, Caribbean flamingo, emu, great horned owl, and helmeted guineafowl.

[7] Mammals at the zoo include Jacob's sheep in the barnyard, titi monkey in the South American exhibit, and African crested porcupine, Bennett's wallaby, black-handed spider monkey, Channel Island fox, fossa, Malayan tiger, mara (Patagonia cavy), prehensile-tailed porcupine, Prevost's squirrel, red river hog, red ruffed lemur, slender-tailed meerkat, and white-fronted marmoset.