Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park, widely known as the Las Vegas Zoo, was a small nonprofit zoo and botanical garden that operated in Las Vegas from 1981 to 2013. Created by Pat Dingle after earlier plans for a much larger zoo at Tule Springs collapsed, it grew from a half-acre site into a three-acre attraction with plants, animals, a petting zoo, and an animal hospital. The zoo became especially known for its Barbary apes, including the last family of them in the United States. Its long history was also marked by debt, animal-care controversies, federal investigations, and repeated criticism before its permanent closure and the relocation of its remaining animals.