A fire at the zoo in 1954 destroyed circus equipment and from 1954 the animals were kept permanently in enclosures.

In 1954 the zoo was renamed after the film actor and director (and Gainesville native) Frank Buck, who collected wild animals from all over the world, and who also worked as a ring master at the zoo.

[1] In 2020, Frank Buck Zoo won an award from the ZAA for their renovated prairie dog enclosure.

[5] The handicap and stroller accessible path around the zoo is about a mile long, with an elevated walkway over the Bennet's and swamp wallaby and the African savanna, with giraffe, common ostrich, helmeted guinea fowl and Nubian ibex.

[7] Frank Buck Zoo is also home to many other different species of animals from across the world, with Asian small clawed otters, Chilean flamingos, American black bears, and many other animals.