SAN ANTONIO – Visitors celebrated the San Antonio Zoo’s 110th birthday on Monday with a special party.
“One hundred ten years is a legacy. Really, a legacy of conservation and education is what we built here at San Antonio Zoo, but we invite everyone to be part of it because we are a nonprofit. So your ticket actually purchases and helps us fund conservations around the world,” said Cyle Perez, director of Public Relations and Integrated Marketing at San Antonio Zoo.
The zoo’s original animals included monkeys, lions, and bears. Today, it has about 800 different species of animals.
The zoo is entering a new chapter and working on opening Congo Falls, a two-acre habitat that will allow the zoo to house gorillas.
The zoo released a new video of the future exhibit at Monday’s birthday celebration.
“This gorilla video is a never-before-seen fly-through rendering of what Congo Falls is going to look like,” Perez said. “We are opening in 2025. It will be the largest gorilla habitat in the entire nation, so we are so proud to bring gorillas back to San Antonio.”
The zoo has set up a space called “Gorillas on the Line,” an annual electronics recycling campaign, where people can drop off laptops or cellphones.
“It helps us with this conservation effort. We have raised over $20,000 for gorilla conservation around the world,” Perez said.
The zoo will be collecting small electronics until Aug. 31.
San Antonio Zoo celebrates 110th birthday with $11 tickets on Monday