EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The El Paso Zoo is launching its own animal encounter program in February, allowing families an up-close experience with pronghorns, penguins, the Galapagos tortoise and Taj the rhinoceros.  El Paso family experiences up close encounter with El Paso Zoo's pronghorns and Taj the rhinoceros “It’s going to be a beautiful experience,” said James Martinez, marketing specialist for the El Paso Zoo. "The zookeepers, they're incredibly educated about (the animals), what they do. People can ask a lot of questions, and you leave the zoo knowing so much more about that animal, knowing that you have to try to make a difference to help the program so that they don't become extinct." Martinez said this program will help them not only catch up to other zoos across the country who already have similar encounter programs, but also to build community collaboration to advance their conservation efforts.  “Conservation is the cornerstone of every single zoo. So the main goal of every single zoo is to actually have enough patronage for people to come in to support the programs within the zoo. So you want to make sure that every single species that is in the zoo is able to go ahead and propagate,” Martinez said.  Martinez said the pronghorns, rhinoceros and the tortoise are all endangered species and part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP), dedicated to ensure the long-term survival of genetically diverse species in human care. The El Paso Zoo works in conjunction with 237 other zoos across the world, that are certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), which aims to advance conservation, education, science, and recreation across its network, according to their website. “We trade animals back and forth (so that) we're able to have them breed. We're trying to make sure that we actually have more of those animals in the zoos and hopefully transfer them into the wild,” Martinez said.   Martinez said the program will launch in February, but the specific date and pricing of the packages are still being worked out.  As to how the encounters work, people will be able to purchase any of four packages that will all include an experience inside the pronghorn exhibit paired with any of the other three animals.  People will be able to go inside the pronghorn, penguins, and tortoise exhibit and interact with them with zookeepers on-site to help answer any questions.  While visitors will not be able to go inside the rhino exhibit, they will be able to get up close like zookeepers to touch and feed them.  Martinez said the packages will be available for purchase from Wednesday through Sunday when the zoo is open and at set times.  He also said further details about the program will be made available at their website soon.  To learn more about the El Paso Zoo, you can visit their website by clicking here.