All About San Diego Zoo

Founded in 1916, the world famous San Diego Zoo has attracted visitors from far and wide year after year. It has been at the forefront of zoological issues since the beginning. It has great public relations opportunities and very good press coverage, which helps it to create learning opportunities for both children and adults alike. The zoo aims to enforce the importance of zoos for the protection of animals by showing them in their natural environment.

The zoo traces its roots to Panama-California International Expedition of 1916. It was the brainchild of Dr. Harry Wegeforth. Dr. Harry Wegeforth planned to establish a permamnent zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego and therefore animals from all over the world were brought here. He selected a board of directors which included his brother and a standing member of Natural History Society. A meeting was conducted in this regard by Dr. Wegeforth in October 1916.

San Diego Zoo was finally alloted a place in Balboa Park and began to shift into its new home. Its natural canyons and mesas proved to be of great help in setting up paddocks and cages in natural confines. Two elephants, Empress and Queenie arrived from India three years later and proved a great hit among the visitors of the zoo.

In 1926, buses were introduced for touring the zoo. Experts would take the tourist on a guided tour, providing information and facts about the different animals as the bus passed. These buses were used to provide underprivileged children the opportunity to see the zoo. The zoo was thriving until World War II broke out and the board of directors began to wonder if they could keep the park open.

After the lull period during the war, the zoo saw more visitors than ever before. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the zoo’s attendance went up to two million visitors a year! As always, the zoo became the favorite haunt of children in and around the San Diego area who love to come there with school trips or as afternoon treats with parents.

The San Diego Zoo progressed in leaps and bounds in 1970s and 1980s. Its progress was further boosted by the appearances of animal expert and goodwill ambassador John Embery on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. These were higly memorable encounters and added to the popularity of the zoo resulting in more visitors to the zoo.

Also during this time, the zoo began to make the transition from a place that shows animals to the public to a place that looks out for the welfare and well being of animals all over the world. By implementing breeding programs and installing natural habitats, the zoo began to shift their focus from the visitors to the animals.

The San Diego Zoo now is a fantastic source of information about the animals from all over the world. Irrespective of your age, you will definitely enjoy a visit to the zoo. You will leave with some useful information about earth and its animal inhabitants.

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Lucille Linhares is the chief editor for F san diego, the web's premier resource for information about san diego, For more articles on san diego visit: www.fsandiego.com/articles
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