Zoo Boise
In 1916, while a circus was traveling through Mountain Home, Idaho, a monkey escaped from captivity. After the circus left town, the monkey was discovered in the Mountain Home Desert. Eventually, the animal was brought to Boise, and this event later inspired the founding of a zoo in the city.
Today, Zoo Boise features a wide variety of exhibits and animal habitats. One of its major attractions is the $2.8 million African Plains exhibit, which opened in 2008. The exhibit includes an African Village, three smaller exhibit areas housing animals such as rock hyraxes, weaver birds, and lemurs, and two larger habitats featuring African lions, striped hyenas, giraffes, zebras, Amur leopards, snow leopards, penguins, red pandas, and tigers. The zoo also includes a primate building and an aviary.
In 2018, construction began on a three-acre expansion inspired by Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, increasing the zoo’s total exhibit space to nearly 17 acres. The expansion opened in the summer of 2019 and introduced new animals, including olive baboons, African painted dogs, vervet monkeys, crocodiles, warthogs, and others. As part of the redevelopment, the old primate house near the entrance and several nearby structures were demolished and replaced with a modern plaza featuring exhibits for gibbons and sarus cranes. Since the opening of these new exhibits, Zoo Boise has welcomed more than 350,000 visitors annually.
Zoo Boise is also home to the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund, administered by Friends of Zoo Boise. Over the past decade, the fund has contributed more than $3 million toward conservation efforts both locally and internationally, supporting projects in Mozambique, the Boise area, Asia, and Central America. Each year, the zoo dedicates more than 10 percent of its total revenue to conservation initiatives.
In May 2025, Zoo Boise unveiled a new world-class red panda exhibit designed to replicate the species’ natural Himalayan habitat. The exhibit features enhanced climbing structures and environmentally sustainable design elements.
Here is a local business that supports the community.
Google Map-
https://maps.app.goo.gl/DsdL68vUiRK3QMsc7
Address-
5997 W State St Suite A Garden City, Idaho 83703, United States