Sacramento Zoo

About Sacramento Zoo

Sacramento Zoo sits inside William Land Park in Sacramento, California, and opened on June 2, 1927, as the "William Land Park Zoo" with 40 animals on 4.2 acres. The zoo has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums since 1979, and it is also a member of the California Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Day-to-day management passed from the City of Sacramento to the nonprofit 501(c)(3) Sacramento Zoological Society, formed in 1957, when the society took over financial and daily operations in July 1997.

Today the zoo describes its collection as more than 300 native, rare and endangered animals representing over 90 unique species. Education is central to its mission: zoo-sponsored school programs reach an average of 60,000 to 80,000 students a year, both on-site and at area schools and community venues, and roughly 70,000 school children visit on organized field trips annually from a 24-county region, with programming built around California's state science content standards.

History

The zoo opened in 1927 with 40 animals gathered from various local parks, including monkeys, raccoons, birds and deer. In 1948, the Sacramento Union newspaper sponsored a fundraising drive to buy the zoo an elephant, and in the fall of 1949 an elephant named SUE — after the "Sacramento Union Elephant," chosen through a contest for local teenagers — arrived to the delight of visitors; a companion elephant, Winky, followed in 1955. The Sacramento Zoological Society formed in 1958 to raise funds as city support began to shrink, and that same year the zoo started educational programming, at the time one of only nine zoos in the country to do so.

The zoo expanded to 14.3 acres in the early 1960s, with new habitats built across most of the grounds. It received its first grizzly bear and two orangutans in 1965 and began charging 25 cents for admission. The zoo adopted its current name in 1970, alongside the completion of a reptile house and the start of a docent program. A six-penguin exhibit opened on April 6, 2007, and construction on a new heated giraffe barn began in 2009, opening as the Tall Wonders giraffe habitat on February 12, 2010. A river otter exhibit with glass viewing opened in 2011, and Small Wonders of Africa — featuring aardvarks, Wolf's guenon and red-billed hornbills — opened in September 2014. The zoo has been working to replace its current reptile house with a planned Biodiversity Center.

In November 2018, zoo officials explored relocating to the former ARCO Arena site in Natomas, but the Sacramento Kings, who control the site, had conflicting redevelopment plans, and 35 acres of that property were later donated to California Northstate University for a medical center. A red panda named Amaya gave birth to her second cub at the zoo in June 2020. In 2024, plans emerged to relocate the zoo to Elk Grove, about fifteen miles south, for more space and improved facilities, but that project was cancelled in April 2025 over financial concerns; the Sacramento city council instead approved an expansion plan at the zoo's current site.

Exhibits and habitats

The Tall Wonders of Africa exhibit is home to the zoo's giraffe herd, with a viewing deck that lets visitors get eye-to-eye with what the zoo calls the world's tallest land mammal; paid giraffe encounters let guests feed them for $5 per person, weather and animal participation permitting. Small Wonders of Africa, which opened in 2014, houses aardvarks, Wolf's guenon monkeys, red-billed hornbills and other species. The zoo's river otter exhibit, added in 2011, gives visitors a glass wall for close-up viewing of its sociable North American river otters in a naturalistic setting.

The Conservation Carousel features 32 hand-carved, hand-painted animals, including an anteater, flamingo, jaguar, ladybug and dung beetle, with rides priced at $3 each. The zoo also hosts periodic HeroRAT viewing sessions at its amphitheater, and keepers run positive-reinforcement training sessions in various habitats that the public can sometimes observe, used to build trust with animals and assist with health checks.

Animal highlights

The zoo lists at least 90 species on its website, representing more than 300 individual animals. Species named in the zoo's own materials include giraffes at the Tall Wonders of Africa habitat, North American river otters, aardvarks, Wolf's guenon monkeys, red-billed hornbills, grizzly bears, orangutans and red pandas, the last of which has bred successfully at the zoo in recent years.

Conservation and programs

The Sacramento Zoo describes wildlife conservation as one of its founding purposes, citing the International Union for Conservation of Nature's estimate that at least 10,000 species go extinct every year as the reason the work matters. As an AZA-accredited institution, the zoo is part of a national network of more than 200 accredited members working on animal care and conservation standards. The zoo's education programs, described above, form a major part of this mission, reaching tens of thousands of students annually both at the zoo and through outreach into the community.

Planning your visit

As listed on the zoo's website, the Sacramento Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. During periods of extreme heat, with forecasts above 100°F, the zoo may close early for the safety of staff, guests and animals, so checking social media or calling ahead is worth doing on hot days. Parking is free and available on-street around the zoo, which sits near the corner of Sutterville Road and Land Park Drive just off Interstate 5; SacRT bus routes 11 and 106 also stop in front of the zoo.

Ticket pricing follows a plan-ahead model, meaning prices can change daily and are typically lower the earlier tickets are purchased; the zoo advises that prices seen at booking will not be lower at the gate. More than 150 AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums offer reciprocal 50% discounts to their members visiting Sacramento, verified at purchase, and the zoo offers periodic $10 Community Days for all ages. Guests with disabilities and one companion receive a discount, arranged by phone or in person rather than online. Membership includes unlimited free visits for a year along with discounts on food, retail and other zoos' admission.

Double strollers and manual wheelchairs are available to rent near the entrance on a first-come basis. Service dogs as defined by the ADA are welcome, though emotional support and comfort animals are not permitted, and service dogs must stay a set distance from certain predator enclosures, including 15 feet from the cheetah, clouded leopard, lion and jaguar habitats. Prohibited items include firearms, balloons, pets, bicycles, frisbees, skateboards, alcohol and glass containers. As with all details here, confirm current hours and ticket prices on the zoo's official website before visiting.