Beloved Montebello Barnyard Zoo owner, Rolando Wolovich, has died

Rolando Wolovich, owner of the Montebello Barnyard Zoo, passed away on Monday, June 10 at the age of 68 in his shop at the zoo.  

He spoke with his daughter, Melanie Wolovich, over the phone that morning, just like any normal day. When she called him back 15 minutes later, he wasn’t picking up, which worried her. She called a friend at the zoo to check on her father, who found him unconscious.  

“My father was just amazing and such a good, hard-working man. He loved this place. He loved his horses, and loved his family and grandkids very much,” Melanie said.  

Rolando Wolovich was born in Argentina in 1955, where he found his love for horses and was part of an equestrian team. He would travel around the country and to Brazil and Spain, where he would participate in horse shows and horse jumping. While taking part in shows, he would also train horses and build the jumps in Argentina.  

“He was really great at it. He won a lot of trophies, and he was really amazing,” his daughter said.  

The Wolovich family moved to the United States in 1981, where Rolando Wolovich found a job at the Lakewood Equestrian Center cleaning horse stalls. Once he learned English and felt more comfortable, he trained people how to ride horses for many years.  

For the past 35 years, Wolovich owned the Montebello Barnyard Zoo, which has existed since the 1960s. There are over 50 animals at the zoo located at Grant Rea Park in Montebello.  

“Luckily, he ended up with this place that the city allowed him to have here, which is amazing. It is a corporation under WRW, Inc.,” Melanie said. 

The zoo started with the barn and a pond with animals residing in the location. Later, Rolando built a pony ride and a train ride that is no longer there, which was replaced with a John Deere tractor ride. He also built a seating area where people can rent  for birthday parties. Local schools are also able to take field trips there. The zoo also has summer camp visitations.  

Having the barnyard zoo in Montebello, which is predominantly a Latino and Hispanic community, helps the city and surrounding areas bring the animals close to home for some that can’t visit other zoos such as the Los Angeles Zoo or San Diego Zoo.  

“When you come here, you feel like you're in a different place, not in the neighborhood. He made it feel like you can go somewhere so close, but yet feel like you're far away. It’s been beautiful. He's kept it up and did all this hard work. I think that's the love for animals, the ranch life and riding,” Melanie Wolovich said.  

Christopher Chacon, a nearby local to Montebello, visited the zoo when he would also take field trips there along with other kids. 

“[Rolando] had a big impact, especially on us city kids, because I imagine a lot of us have probably never even seen a cow, an ostrich or a bull up close and probably learned a little bit more about those animals due to the owner having them at his barn. We see horses because Montebello and Pico Rivera are equestrian-friendly, but how many of us have seen a live ostrich?” Chacon said.  

He and his grandfather would also take trips to the zoo and made many memories together.  

“I remember my grandfather taking me when I was a child at least a couple times a month. Sometimes we’d walk from my grandfather’s house to the zoo and just spend the day normally at the zoo, but at the park itself. Those are times that I wish my grandfather had brought a camera, but at the time we didn’t care about that,” Chacon said.  

Having the animals at the zoo has been therapeutic for many, including Rolando and his daughter, who dealt with depression, anxiety and panic attacks.  

“Animals are a really good way of therapy, just the smell, looking into their eyes, touching them, and the peace they give you,” Melanie said. “There's a lot of kids that come here and need that. We work with a lot of kids who have disabilities. We had a lot of kids come here that were on wheelchairs, or they even came with machines [who] couldn't breathe on their own. When you see their smile or their eyes, it makes you see life so differently.” 

She started working with her father at the age of 30. Although both she and her father would argue over certain things, just like any father and daughter would, they had a great time working together.  

“We work together really well. It was pretty amazing. Him not being here is really hard. [Not] watching him walk out his shop, checking on everything or going into the office asking ‘how are you guys doing?’ We're a little family here and we've all been here together for so long. It just doesn't feel the same. We're trying to make it the same, but it’s going to take time,” she said.  

Yadira Andrade loves working at the zoo and has been an employee for the past four years. She connected right away with Melanie and her father, who would always be cracking jokes and helped her with anything she needed.  

“He was like my dad and Melanie is like my sister. It's very hard [now] that it feels very lonely and quiet without him here,” Andrade said. “He would always try to help others all the time.” 

Melanie Wolovich wants people to remember her father as the happy and hard-working person he was.  

“He had a heart of gold and he didn't fake it” she said. “There's so many things that I would love for whatever memories they held of him to think of him as that. Because he's amazing at that.”