www.sfzoo.org
Opened 1929
City: San Francisco
Country: USA
State: California
Species 260
This zoo makes one relax a couple of hours frome the buisiness of the great city with its savannah, great lakes and interesting animals, like the koala, 2 species of rhinos and gorilla. Kids will love the childrens zoo where they even can touch sheep and goats
San Francisco Zoo
1 Zoo Road
San Francisco
CA 94132
USA
Open minimum 10am-5pm
Entrance fee
Annual card
There are several daily feeding shows, for the time please ask at the till station.
History:
The San Francisco Zoo that we know it today was established in 1929, and was built in the 1930s and 1940s as part of a depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. The Zoo was originally called The Herbert Fleishhacker Zoo, after its founder. The official name of the Zoo – The San Francisco Zoological Gardens – was adopted February 27, 1941, following the suggestion of Herbert Fleishhacker.
Early on, John McLaren, Superintendent of Golden Gate Park, was receptive to exhibiting bears, emus, beavers, sheep, kangaroos, moose, goats, elk, and bison in the park meadows as well as a two-acre aviary full of birds. But when Fleishhacker began to speak enthusiastically of lions, tigers, great apes, and – his particular fancy – elephants, McLaren strenuously objected on the grounds that these animals would require special housing and care, and that Golden Gate Park should remain as naturalistic and undeveloped as possible. In 1922, Fleishhacker claimed the ideal setting for his zoo, purchasing from the Spring Valley Water Company a 30-acre site (now 99 acres) near the ocean in the southwestern corner of San Francisco. By 1925, he had added to the site the Fleishhacker Pool - the largest swimming pool in the United States, the Fleishhacker Playfield for picnics and recreation, the Mother's Building – a haven for women and their children, and an original Dentzel Carousel. The Zoo would be a wonderful complement to this recreational area. The first exhibits consisted of animals transferred from Golden Gate Park. An early inventory list records two zebras, one cape buffalo, five rhesus monkeys, two spider monkeys, and, of course, three elephants: Babe, Virginia, and Marjorie, who were donated by Fleishhacker himself. In 1929, while on a cruise around the world, Fleishhacker met animal collector and hunter George Bistany in Manila, and commissioned him to diversify the Zoo's collection. Bistany was soon hired as the Zoo's first director. "We need a man who knows how to talk to these wild animals and who can tell when they need a bath or a dose of salt," said Park Commission Secretary Captain B.F. Lamb. Bistany applied his considerable knowledge of animal husbandry to build exhibits, shelters, and corrals, and to chart paths and roads. He also carefully trained the keepers in the care and handling of wild animals and birds. His management duties were perhaps the most challenging aspect of the job. The original keepers were known as "hayburners" because their responsibility was the care and feeding of hoofstock and hay-eating animals. When word reached San Francisco that Bistany had chartered a shipment of leopards, tigers, pig-tailed macaques, lions, and elephants, panic erupted. The new Zoo had neither the facilities nor the expertise to care for these creatures. Bistany himself saved the day by personally overseeing the shipment, improvising cages, and delivering impromptu lectures about the care of each species. By the time Fleishhacker returned from his cruise, the animals were sheltered, tended, and healthy. Bistany passed away in 1935 and was succeeded by Edmund Heller, the former Director of the Milwaukee Zoo. Heller was a noted zoologist with a strong history of field research. After a yearlong African safari, he co-authored the reference book Life Histories of African Game Animals with Theodore Roosevelt. The Zoo's first major exhibits were built in the 1930's by the depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) at a cost of $3.5 million. Fleishhacker, Heller and prominent San Francisco architect Lewis Hobart combined their talents to design the WPA exhibits. The animal exhibits were, in the words of Hobart, "ten structures designed to house the animals and birds in quarters as closely resembling native habitats as science can devise." These new structures included Monkey Island, Lion House, Elephant House, a sea lion pool, an aviary, and bear grottos. These spacious, moated enclosures were among the first bar-less exhibits in the country. Heller's contribution was significant, but short; he died only four years later, in 1939. In 1941, Fleishhacker suggested that the Zoo, which had been named in his honor, be renamed the San Francisco Zoological Gardens to provide the Zoo with a regional identity. That same year, the Zoo received several acquisitions from the William Randolph Hearst private collection in San Simeon, perhaps most significantly, Zoo Director Carey Baldwin. For 23 years Baldwin lived in the Zoo Director's house on Zoo grounds, overseeing the care of the collection, the growth of the facilities, and the birth of the San Francisco Zoological Society. Baldwin is remembered as a warm, committed man who never lost his enthusiasm for the animals. With his encouragement, nine wealthy animal lovers determined to support and improve the Zoo founded the non-profit San Francisco Zoological Society in 1954. The following year, Pennie the Asian elephant arrived at the Zoo, purchased with pennies donated by local school children. Over the 40 years since its founding in 1954, the San Francisco Zoological Society became a powerful fundraising source for the Zoo, just as Fleishhacker had hoped when he envisioned "…a Zoological Society similar to those established in other large cities. The Zoological Society will aid the Park Commission in the acquisition of rare animals and in the operation of the Zoo." True to its charter, the Society immediately exerted its influence on the Zoo, developing a master plan in 1956 and obtaining more than 1,300 annual members in its first 10 years. In 1958, the Society took over the operation of Zoo concessions and was responsible for the development of several exhibits, including the African Scene in 1967, the temporary Panda exhibit in 1984, and Koala Crossing and the Primate Discovery Center in 1985. It also funded important projects like the renovation of the Children's Zoo in 1964, purchasing medical equipment for the new Zoo Hospital in 1975, and the establishment of the Avian Conservation Center in 1978. From 1958 to 1968, philanthropist Carroll Soo-Hoo donated 40 animals, including western lowland gorillas, orangutans, cheetahs, Siberian tigers, jaguars, zebras, hippopotamuses, spotted hyena, and wild dogs. These donations contributed greatly to the Zoo's collection. Carroll bought the animals with an understanding that he could visit with them and he continued to come to the Zoo until his death in 1998. Although the Zoo has benefited from the many improvements in recent years, the original WPA structures had remained virtually untouched since the 1930's. Then, in 1977, a $2.5 million federal grant enabled the construction of Gorilla World, Wolf Woods, Koala Crossing, the Primate Discovery Center, and Musk Ox Meadow. These exhibits replaced small, sterile enclosures with open, naturalistic habitats that reflect the Zoo's expanded purposes: conservation, education, recreation, and research. The structures also conformed to Hobart's prescient vision of naturalistic habitats, where, from a normal distance, "it would appear that the animals were not confined at all." The benefits of naturalistic exhibits to the animals were obvious. Bwana and Missy, the Zoo's first two gorillas, who had come to the Zoo in 1959, spent the first week in their new exhibit learning to pluck grass and climb real trees. The Zoological Society took over management and operations of the Zoo in 1993 from the City of San Francisco in a unique public/private Lease Partnership Agreement. Since then, the Society has made dramatic improvements and rebuilt exhibits throughout the Zoo. In 1994, the first major new exhibit was constructed–Otter River. The opening of this exhibit marked a change from the old-style enclosures as the concrete pool for North American river otters was renovated to have two deep pools, cascading waterfalls, and climbing rocks. While the Zoological Society continued to renovate existing exhibits and construct new exhibits here and there, a major turning point came in June 1997. San Francisco voters approved the Proposition C $48 million Zoo Bond to rejuvenate the Zoo, and complement an additional $25 million that was raised privately. The Bond Plan called for a complete overhaul of the entire western portion of the Zoo, and included the restructuring of the entire entrance sequence, spacious new animal exhibits, and much-needed public facilities.
