About

Our Mission

Santa Barbara Zoo is dedicated to the preservation, conservation, and enhancement of the natural world and its living treasures through education, research, and recreation.

Our HIGH Standards

Santa Barbara Zoo has been accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) since 1982, three years before it became mandatory. We were the 51st accredited member and have been continuously accredited in subsequent reviews, which take place every five years. The Zoo’s accreditation was last renewed on March 26, 2020.

How We Are Funded

The Santa Barbara Zoo is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID 95-2268554) and relies on contributions from individuals, organizations, corporations, and foundations, not tax dollars, to help maintain and improve animal habitats, grounds, conservation education programs, and general operations.

In August 1963, the Santa Barbara Zoo opened its doors to the public.

The Zoo’s story begins in 1896, when New England tea and coffee merchant John Beale took a horseback ride from Pasadena to Santa Barbara and liked what he saw. He stayed to build an estate near the sea called Vegamar (Star of the Sea), with acres of landscaped gardens and a tall tower. His bride Lillian became mistress of the estate, and when Beale died, his widow married John H. Child. In time, Vegamar was known locally as the Child Estate.

Mrs. Child was a strong-willed New England woman. A gracious hostess at Vegamar’s social galas, she became an equally gracious hostess to a community of “knights on the road” who lived in shacks on her property. Around 1935, a few men, victims of the Depression, stayed on the property, to the chagrin of local authorities. Lillian allowed them to settle and build a permanent, self-policed community, insisting on order and neatness.

Later in her life, Mrs. Child could no longer maintain Vegamar and offered her estate to the Santa Barbara Foundation, to be disposed of upon her death in such a fashion benefiting the community. In 1947, the Foundation took over the deed, and Mrs. Child remained in residence until 1951.

At the time, 32 men lived in the shanty village on the property. Mrs. Child asked that the men not be made homeless as a result of her death, and the Foundation respected her wish, installing a Westmont College student and his family in the main house as caretakers. "Jungleville” would later cease to exist, but in keeping with Mrs. Child’s wishes, the three residents of the shanty village were moved into cottages on nearby public property.

In October 1953, the Foundation gifted the deed to the Child Estate property to the City of Santa Barbara for use as a park, but as the years passed, the main house fell into disrepair, and in July 1959, the city fire department burned down the 63-year-old pink stucco mansion. Park Superintendent Finlay A. Mackenzie thought the property could be turned into an estate for children, with animals, gardens, and play areas. Mackenzie approached the Junior Chamber of Commerce with his suggestion, and a fundraising drive was launched to build the "Child's Estate," which became the Santa Barbara Zoo. 

Santa Barbara Zoo was built by and for the Santa Barbara community and has continued to serve and fulfill this mission since 1963: preservation, conservation, and enhancement of the natural world and its living treasures through education, research, and recreation.