An exciting new project began in early 2019 and debuted on August 10: Animal Planet’s THE ZOO: SAN DIEGO. SDZG was featured as the newest location in Animal Planet’s THE ZOO series, taking viewers of the cable channel behind the scenes at the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research. THE ZOO: SAN DIEGO was filmed from January to May 2019, with two crews that worked five days a week with keepers, veterinary staff, nutritionists, horticulture staff, researchers, and public relations staff, among many others—it took a zoo to create this show! The crews followed and produced stories about individual animals, conservation projects, and day-to-day operations, bringing our zoo world to Animal Planet’s global audience.

Ten episodes were produced for season 1, and aired on Saturdays from August 10 through October 3. There were 27 animal species featured in the episodes, and an average of one million people tuned in each week. Through THE ZOO: SAN DIEGO, we were able to share our organization’s animal care efforts and mission to save species from extinction with people who may not have a chance to visit us in person, and to provide viewers with a more in-depth understanding of all we do.