By Rohan Anne, Co-Webmaster

In May 2021, the Elmwood Park Zoo received an anonymous $30 million donation to expand its park. A year and a half later, in October 2022, the zoo announced that it would build an animal hospital for its 100th anniversary in 2024. 

This hospital will provide several care facilities for the zoo’s animals and will all for visitors to watch the medical procedures and learn about the health care provided for the animals. The $30 million cover part of the $150 million plan to expand the park and its facilities, starting with a new care center and veterinary clinic for the animals according to Jennifer Conti, the Development Director of Elmwood Park Zoo. 

“In 2019, we began to develop a master level to take the zoo to the next level, and one of our main focuses was animal welfare in the zoo,” Conti said. “A veterinary hospital would not only allow us to increase the standard of care for our animal collection, but to also let it grow and provide an immersive experience between the animals and the visitors. This was made possible because of the pilot funding we received from the anonymous donor.”

The hospital will provide 17,000 square feet of new facilities to support and care for animals at the zoo, along with multiple exam rooms, quarantine areas, treatment centers, surgical rooms and recovery wards. 

The hospital will also contain multiple viewing areas for visitors to watch the medical procedures that the animals will be receiving at the facility. Sabrina Kelly, Elmwood Park Zoo employee at the Discovery Center, believes the hospital will be a valuable learning opportunity for visitors of the zoo, who will now get to see how these animals receive care.

“I think (the new hospital) is going to bring in more people to see different procedures. The hospital will also serve as a teaching hospital, and more people are going to be able to learn about the animals up close,” Kelly said. “It’s going to take a lot of people from the community and inform them about taking care of different animals, and that’s part of our mission.”

The hospital will be beneficial for the Elmwood Park Zoo and will allow the staff to take care of the animals on-site. This will allow the zoo to provide a better overall experience for both the animals and visitors. According to Conti, being able to take care of the animals through a hospital will be an integral part of Elmwood Park Zoo.

“It (the hospital) is probably one of the most important things to have at a zoo. (If) we don’t have the hospital, we can’t get larger animals, quarantine correctly or provide them recovery areas as they need,” Conti said. “The whole thing is designed for ease of access, not only for our staff, but also for the animals. It’s one of the most important things that we provide our animals in (terms of) upgrading their health care.”

Rohan Anne can be reached at [email protected].