San Francisco Zoo

San Francisco Zoo and Gardens, a 100-acre zoo on the city’s western side between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean, grew from Fleishhacker Zoo, planned in 1929 beside Fleishhacker Pool and built with early exhibits whose spacious, barless enclosures were among the first of their kind in the country. Managed since 1993 by the San Francisco Zoological Society in partnership with the city, it housed more than 1,000 animals of more than 250 species by 2016. It became known for animals such as Koko, Elly, and Pennie, while later decades also brought deadly safety failures, criticism over care and management, and debate over modernization even as it remained a major civic institution.

San Francisco, California · United States