For more than 75 years, Zoo Miami has been a place where wonder begins.
Where a child locks eyes with a tiger for the first time. Where families return year after year, forming memories that last a lifetime. Where curiosity becomes compassion, and compassion becomes responsibility.
As one of South Florida’s most beloved and defining institutions, Zoo Miami welcomes more than one million guests each year, more than double the next largest cultural destination in our region. But its true impact cannot be measured in attendance alone. Zoo Miami shapes how our community understands wildlife, conservation, and our shared role in protecting the natural world.
From the very beginning, Zoo Miami challenged what a zoo could be. As one of the nation’s first free-range zoos, it was built on a bold belief: animals deserve dignity, space, and the highest standard of care. Expansive habitats, modern veterinary medicine, and immersive guest experiences were not innovations, they were commitments.
Today, Zoo Miami stands uniquely positioned at the intersection of nature, education, and conservation. As the only subtropical zoo in the United States, it is nestled within the largest remaining Pine Rockland Forest and alongside the UNESCO World Heritage Everglades National Park. Each year, hundreds of thousands of students engage with Zoo Miami through classroom outreach, field trips, camps, and career exploration, learning not only about
animals, but about stewardship, science, and the fragile balance of our ecosystem.
Yet this moment demands more of us.
Local wildlife is under increasing threat. Global species loss is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Climate change is reshaping how we care for animals and how communities engage with the natural world. At the same time, aging infrastructure at the zoo limits our ability to meet these challenges, and to inspire the next generation of conservation leaders.
Thanks to an extraordinary public-private partnership between Miami-Dade County and Zoo Miami’s dedicated donors and guests, more than $100 million has already been committed toward the future of the Zoo. Part of a historic $175 million investment which will ensure that Miami will continue to have a world-class zoological institution.
The County has made its commitment. Now, private philanthropy must rise to meet the moment.
Because a great zoo does more than entertain. It advances science. It strengthens communities. It protects biodiversity. And it ensures that the natural world endures, not just for today, but for generations to come.
This is the purpose of Zoo Miami: FOR THE WORLD.
Not just the best zoo in the world, but the best zoo for the world.
The renderings shown are conceptual and intended to help visualize the future of Zoo Miami. The final design may vary.
The Future has Already Begun
Behind the scenes at Zoo Miami, the future of animal care is taking shape quietly, deliberately, and with purpose. The new 25,000-square-foot Animal Hospital represents more than a building. It is a promise: that every animal entrusted to Zoo Miami will receive the highest standard of care, today and for generations to come.
Designed as both a center of excellence and a place of connection, the hospital will welcome guests into the science that protects wildlife worldwide. Within its walls, veterinary students, researchers, and organizational partners will work side by side, advancing medical innovation while inspiring the next generation of conservation leaders. What happens here will extend far beyond Zoo Miami’s gates, throughout the world.
But true animal care goes beyond medicine alone.
Zoo Miami’s approach recognizes that animal well-being is both physical and psychologi-
cal. Through advanced monitoring, behavioral science, and enrichment strategies grounded in research, Zoo Miami will lead the field in supporting how animals move, think, socialize, and thrive. This is care that honors the whole animal, not just the condition being treated.
Across the Zoo, expanded habitats, upgraded water management systems, and advanced aquatic life support will redefine what modern zoological care looks like in a changing climate. From additional shade structures that protect giraffes from rising temperatures to thoughtfully curated enrichment that allows animals to express natural behaviors, every investment is intentional.
Every choice is guided by one principle: Animals thrive when care, space, and science work together.
And when animals thrive, education deepens, conservation accelerates, and the impact reaches far beyond Zoo Miami, into ecosystems, communities, and the future we are shaping together.
A Conservation Organization, Fueled by a Zoo
Included in the campaign are several projects enabling Zoo Miami to save local imperiled species and participate more fully in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plans. Together, these initiatives elevate Zoo
Miami beyond a destination, positioning it as a frontline conservation partner, where science, stewardship, and action converge and Zoo Miami serves as a global partner in preventing extinction locally, nationally, and worldwide.
The campaign will result in a new Manatee Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Release Critical Care Center, one of only five in the United States, helping to protect Florida’s iconic manatee. This lifesaving center will serve as a sanctuary in moments of crisis, where injured manatees receive critical care and a second chance to return to the wild.
It will also transform Zoo Miami’s great ape habitats, supporting the return of a gorilla troop, and critical breeding programs for orangutans and chimpanzees.
These efforts protect not only individual animals, but entire species whose survival depends on coordinated global action.
Zoo Miami is also stepping forward to protect one of Florida’s most imperiled and least visible species: the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow. With fewer than 1,300 birds remaining in the wild and a population decline of nearly 80% since 1981, this small Everglades songbird now faces the very real risk of extinction.
Zoo Miami has partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to serve as the home of a captive breeding and recovery program creating a critical bridge between immediate survival and long-term Everglades restoration.
This work carries profound significance. Florida has seen this story before. The dusky seaside sparrow driven to extinction by altered hydrology was lost forever when conservation action came too late. Today, Zoo Miami is helping ensure history does not repeat itself.
Plans are also in place to establish a stand-alone Conservation and Research Center that will extend Zoo Miami’s impact far beyond its own animal collection. This facility will allow Zoo Miami’s experts to provide care, research, and intervention for imperiled wildlife species that may never live at the Zoo, but whose survival still depends on our action.
Within this center, Zoo Miami will house a Frozen Zoo, a secure biorepository preserving genetic material from critically endangered species. Together, these efforts will ensure that even as species disappear from the wild, they are not lost forever, creating a scientific safeguard and a promise of hope for future recovery.
Additional conservation initiatives will bring the critically endangered Red Wolf into Zoo Miami’s care, supporting managed breeding, scientific research, and public education. Once nearly extinct in the wild, the Red Wolf now survives through carefully coordinated conservation efforts, making every individual essential to the species’ future. As habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict continue to threaten its survival, this work serves as a vital safeguard, preserving genetic diversity while helping the public better understand and protect one of North America’s most misunderstood predators.
Zoo Miami Foundation
Strengthening Community & Education
For many families, Zoo Miami is the place where a child first experiences wonder, standing face to face with an animal, asking endless questions, and beginning to see the natural world as something worth protecting. These early moments matter. They shape how children understand life, empathy, and their role in the world.
Each year, Zoo Miami welcomes hundreds of thousands of children and families. Through this campaign, we can transform those moments of wonder into lifelong values through three distinct, purpose-driven investments: a reimagined Children’s Zoo, a new Education Center, and a dedicated Family Water Play Area, each designed to meet families where learning truly begins.
The Children’s Zoo will be a place of first connections.
Here, children can safely explore, observe, and engage with animals up close, turning curiosity into compassion through hands-on experiences. Designed with comfort, accessibility, and young learners in mind, this space invites families to slow down, ask questions together, and form meaningful bonds with wildlife.
The Education Center will deepen those first impressions into understanding and action.
Purpose-built classrooms and flexible learning spaces will serve students, teachers, and community partners allowing Zoo Miami to expand school programs, camps, and conservation education across South Florida. This is where inspiration becomes knowledge, and where today’s children begin to see themselves as tomorrow’s stewards of the natural world.
Complementing these experiences, the Family Water Play Area offers something equally important: comfort.
In a subtropical climate, families need spaces that allow children to recharge and caregivers to pause, so learning and connection can continue. Shaded seating, thoughtful amenities, and a zero-entry splash space ensure families stay longer, engage deeper, and share the experience together.
Together, these spaces create more than a visit to the Zoo. They create a shared journey, one where families build memories, children develop empathy, and conservation values take root early and endure. This is where the next generation learns not just to love animals, but to protect the world they share.
And with your support, these moments of discovery become a lasting legacy.
Zoo Miami stands at a defining moment: for wildlife, for our community, and for the future we leave to the next generation.
This campaign is more than an investment in buildings or exhibits. At a moment when species loss is accelerating and the need for leadership has never been greater, Zoo Miami is uniquely positioned to act. With bold vision, proven momentum, and a deep commitment to animal wellbeing, conservation, and education, Zoo Miami is building a model for what a 21st-century zoo can and must be.
With strong public investment already committed, the opportunity before us is clear: private philanthropy can now help shape a world-class zoo that leads with purpose, protects biodiversity, and reflects the values of a global city. By joining this effort, you become part of a lasting legacy. One that ensures Zoo Miami is not only a source of pride for our region, but a force for conservation and education for the world.
