Our Mission:
The Sacramento Zoo inspires appreciation, respect and a connection with wildlife and nature through education, recreation and conservation.
Who We Are:
The nonprofit 501(c)(3) Sacramento Zoological Society, formed in 1957, assumed financial and daily management of the Zoo (from the City of Sacramento) in July 1997. Since its inception, the society has served as the fund-raising organization for the Zoo, providing funds for animal care, education and conservation programs. We design our nationally recognized education programs for children and adults of all ages. Society-sponsored school programs reach an average of 60,000 to 80,000 students per year both at the Zoo and off-site at area schools and community venues. More than 10,500 local and regional households are members of the Sacramento Zoological Society.
Accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 1975, look for the AZA logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you, and a better future for all living things. With its more than 200 accredited members, AZA is a leader in global wildlife conservation, and your link to helping animals in their native habitats. The Association of Zoos & Aquariums is building North America's largest wildlife conservation movement by engaging and inspiring our 143 million annual visitors and their communities to care about and take action to help protect wildlife. For more information visit www.aza.org.
As an educational institution, the Sacramento Zoo follows the California State Board of Education science content standards through a variety of programs. Each year there are approximately 70,000 school children from a 24-county region that visit the Zoo on organized school field trips. A few of the programs we offer are: summer school, family and group overnights, ZooMobile, wildlife stage shows, zoo tours, zoo previews, operations adaptations, animal encounters, exhibit talks and much more.