Phoenix Zoo
The Phoenix Zoo is the largest non-profit zoo in the United States. Founded by Robert Maytag in 1962, the zoo has always been a privately owned, non-profit venture. Operating on 125 acres of the Papago Park area of Phoenix it has been set apart as a Phoenix Point of Pride.
The zoo has over 1,300 animals on display throughout four main areas (or trails) including: The Arizona Trail (American Southwest flora and fauna), the Africa Trail (animals from Africa), the Tropics Trail (residents of the rain forests), and the Children’s Trail, which includes a petting zoo. The park also now includes a sanctuary to care for animals that are endangered or unwanted.
In 1998 the zoo expanded with Harmony Farms, home to a petting zoo and domestic farm animals. The millennium also brought changes to the zoo with Desert Lives, one of the parks trails. A new primate walk-through exhibit called Monkey Village was added in 2004. Aquatic species were added to the zoo with the opening of Stingray Bay in November 2006. Two Komodo Dragons were brought to the zoo as a part of the zoo’s capital campaign in November 2009. Orang-Hutan: People of the Forest, part of the Zoo’s capital campaign opened to the public in April of 2011.
The zoo has a wide array of youth programs and animal encounters, including Field trips, Night Camp, an outreach program which includes a zoomobile for outreach to locations outside the city, a summer camp, and a large volunteer program for teenagers 13–17, known as the Zooteen program.
