Kid-Friendly Parks in San Antonio – Hemisfair | Evans Road CBD Store

3903 N St Mary’s St, San Antonio, TX 78212, United States

San Antonio Zoo, run by the Zoological Society of San Antonio, is a non-profit organization committed to ensuring a future for wildlife. Through its passion and experience in animal care, conservation and education, the zoo’s mission is to encourage its community to appreciate, engage, act for and preserve animals and their places of living. Each year the zoo attracts over a million visitors and is open all year round. San Antonio Zoo is accredited by the Zoos and Aquariums Association, the Zoological Association of America, and American Humane Certified Zoo.

In addition to its economic impact on the City of San Antonio and Bexar County, San Antonio Zoo published its 2018 Annual Report which documented the global conservation impact of the zoo. Last year, the zoo received 1.14 million visitors, thus producing about $33 million in sales and having a $108.6 million overall impact on the economy.

The first zoo at San Antonio consisted of a group of animals collected in the 1800’s in San Pedro Park. In 1914, one of the city ‘s leading residents and publisher of the San Antonio Express-News, Colonel George W. Brackenridge, put buffalo, elk, deer, monkeys, a pair of lions, and four bears on property that he had deeded to the city in what is now known as Brackenridge Park. This collection has become Zoo of San Antonio.

Two of America’s first cageless exhibits — the Barless Bear Terraces and the Primate Paradise — opened in November 1929, giving visitors unparalleled views of wildlife. When the Richard Friedrich Aquarium was dedicated in 1948, it was described in the local press as “the best in the world.” Opened in 1966, the Hixon Bird House, funded by Colonel Frederick C. Hixon ‘s contributions, features a simulated tropical rainforest and free-flying bird. The Zoo’s collection of birds is also one of the best in the world.

The zoo is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and houses a wide range of animals on 56 acres containing 750 species, 34 of which are public pathways. Every year more than 1,000,000 visitors visit the San Antonio Zoo – 13,155 of those who are children interested in educational programs and 80,000 school kids go on field trips.