While this report focuses on a single day, work at the zoo takes place 365 days a year and YOU make it all possible.

In this year’s annual report, we set out to tell the story of one day at the Oregon Zoo. Nothing was unusual or different about Aug. 24. There were the same animals to care for and details to manage to help thousands of guests create lifelong memories and experience the wonder of our natural world.

11 year old Moshu feasting on bamboo.

On any given day, the horticulture team provides browse for the animals while making the zoo buzz with life and color. They grow bamboo for elephants and red pandas, and cultivate early blue violets to help with butterfly conservation.

On any given day, teens from our Zoo Apprenticeship Program lead tours for community-based organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of SW Washington and the Native American Youth and Family Center. This summer, they connected with 421 youths through our ZAP-to-Zoo program — facilitating games, providing lunch, attending keeper talks, and helping them choose souvenirs from the gift shop.

And on any given day, people are coming together to restore native habitats and advocate for wildlife — inviting elected officials on tours to encourage support for important legislation, volunteering to serve on the foundation board, and helping to ferry tiny native frogs back out into the wild.

Senior Keeper Nicole Nicassio and ZAP associate Markel Denfeld preparing polar bear diets for Amelia Gray (pictured) and Nora.

Thanks to members and donors, the zoo received $5.2 million this year to support education, conservation and animal well-being.

From right here in your backyard to Borneo and beyond, we are working to create a better future for wildlife. While this report focuses on a single day at the zoo, know that we do this work 365 days a year and YOU make it all happen. None of this would be possible without your generous support.

Thank you for being part of our pack!