Veterinary medical center
Building a new veterinary medical center
The Phoenix Zoo embarked on a significant public fundraising campaign to build a new 27,000 square foot medical center. Construction on the new medical center began in May 2025. The Zoo’s animal collection will continue to receive outstanding care from our veterinarians and animal care team in the new and improved facility, which will include advanced medical equipment and research space to lead us to the cutting edge of wildlife veterinary science and healthcare. The new space will provide large medical facilities with indoor viewing windows and digital screens to educate guests as they observe veterinary exams and animal health procedures which may take place in real time. The Center will also contain classrooms and collaborative workspaces to train and motivate the wildlife veterinarians of tomorrow.
Watch the video below to learn more.
The Phoenix Zoo in Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the largest nonprofit zoos in the U.S. We care for more than 3,000 animals representing almost 400 species, many of which are threatened or endangered.
Our Veterinary Medical Center is the heart of the Zoo. It is the place where animals receive amazing care from our veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and animal care staff.
The Veterinary Medical Center will push the limits of zoological medicine to increase knowledge and provide optimal care. The Zoo envisions a comprehensive center for veterinary medicine, where the Zoo’s animals will be treated with unparalleled expertise and compassion; a center of innovation where clinicians, scholars, and students collaborate to advance the health of animals, people, and the environment, and provide a center of clinical discovery where transformative research can take place.
A new veterinary medical center will allow us to deliver on all aspects of our mission in ways that right now we can only imagine.
The need for a new medical center is rooted in three key areas:
Space constraints
Acquisition of Advanced medical equipment
Education and Inspiration
Project Renderings & Updates
The new 25,000 square foot medical center is vital to our ability to advance the care of the animals we serve, educate and inspire our guests, and provide hands on experience to wildlife veterinarians and veterinary students. It will include advanced medical equipment and research space that will help take us to the cutting edge of wildlife veterinary science and healthcare. Updated and larger medical and surgical facilities will have windows and screens to allow guests to watch exams and procedures and be inspired. Classrooms and collaborative workspace will provide space to train and motivate the wildlife veterinarians of tomorrow.
It will ensure that we are once again at the leading edge of zoological medicine. It will be the foundation of the Phoenix Zoo’s future growth. A $25 million funding initiative will support this once-in-a-lifetime endeavor.
Our commitment
With a new medical center, we will continue to provide our animals with the best care possible into the future. Our ongoing commitment remains with training tomorrow’s veterinarians and inspiring our guests to more deeply care about animal stewardship and conservation. The following beliefs guide us:
Care and Conservation
Connection
Collaboration
The new medical center will:
- Accommodate the in-hospital care of larger species that we cannot currently hospitalize.
- Include and focus on the use of advanced medical equipment. The Phoenix Zoo will be one of the few zoo veterinary medical centers in the country to include a CT scanner. This advanced diagnostic imaging will greatly enhance our ability to diagnose and treat animal patients.
- Have digital radiography equipment, ultrasonography, endoscopy and advanced anesthesia monitoring.
- Include updated surgery, laboratory, treatment, examination and animal housing facilities.
- Feature large animal and environmentally-controlled quarantine space.
- Allow us to continue to train veterinarians in zoological medicine.
The new medical center will:
- Have multiple public viewing windows and will provide guests and student groups the opportunity to observe and experience first-hand the importance of veterinary medicine in a zoological setting.
- Showcase the Zoo’s exceptional veterinary care.
- Help shape the public’s understanding about conservation issues and zoological medicine and engage our guests to better understand the Zoo’s mission.
The new medical center will:
- Provide us with the space required to conduct scientific research.
- Continue teaching opportunities for visiting veterinary students and veterinarians.
- Allow us to continue our clinical teaching programs for veterinary students and graduate veterinarians interested in zoological medicine.
- Include collaborative space for medical rounds, discussion and preparation for medical procedures, ongoing scientific study, and reviewing scientific advancements and best practices in conservation medicine.
- Allow continued and enhanced support for conservation medicine working with species around the world.
Thank you to our Supporters!
$5,000,000 and above
| JoEllen Doornbos |
$1,000,000 to $4,999,999
| Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation |
| Midwestern University |
| RCSP Hawaii, LLC |
| Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust |
| Sundt Construction Inc. |
$500,000 to $999,999
| Thunderbirds Charities |
$250,000 to $499,999
| Peggy D. Herz and Col. Philip E. Smith |
| Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community |
| Arizona Diamondbacks |
$100,000 to $249,999
| Lynn Medley Brown |
| SRP |
| John F. Long Foundation |
| HACI Mechanical Contractors, Inc. |
| Maja Wessels and Charles Covington |
| Susie and David Sherman |
| Diana Herron |
| Stephen and Nanci Fisher |
| Ardie and Steve Evans |
| Phoenix Zoo Auxiliary |
| Margaret T. Morris Foundation |
| Marie and Mike Hoover |
| Kathleen and John Graham |
$50,000 to $99,999
| Jacob F. Long |
| Kathleen and Steven Ashbuy |
| Deborah Miller and Michael Wallensack |
| Wayne and Pat Needham |
| Gary and Andy Harper |
| Rose and Harry Papp |
| Sue Greenfield |
| Margaret R. Hacker |
| Frank M. Gring Jr. |
| Michael and Dorothy Blaire |
$25,000 to $49,999
| James C. and Esther M. Crabtree |
| Jeff and Dee Gibbons |
| Bertram and Betty Feingold |
| Jim Miller |
| Barry and Jean Bingham |
| Ken* and Nancy Husband |
| Richard and Elaine Morrison |
| Patricia Stalzer |
| Veronica Ciancola |
| Stephen and Natalie Higgins |
| Tohono O’odham Nation |
| Bert and Janice Castro |
$10,000 to $24,999
| Betsey Bayless |
| Boeing |
| Nicole and Adam Bowman |
| Jerry Cox |
| Event Network |
| Fred and Kay Fathe |
| Larry & Margo Fink and Family |
| Freeport-McMoRan |
| Daniel and Lorraine Frias |
| Dieter and Julie Gable |
| Robert Meyer and Kathleen Harner |
| Linda Hayes and Andrew Schnieder |
| Chris Hettlinger |
| Denise Andriello-Higgins and David Higgins |
| John and Gail Krueger |
| Steven and Dori Lewis |
| Robert and Michelle Mawk |
| Bonnie Mendoza and Arnold Mejia |
| National Bank of Arizona |
| Stephen Ochoa |
| Mary and Max Palenica |
| Paul and Claudia Paparella |
| Gael N. Parks |
| Alan J. and Courtney C. Peril |
| Susan VanWormer |
| Vesely Family Foundation |
| Greg Vogel |
| The Yamano Family |
$5,000 to $9,999
| Judy and Rory Albert |
| Jennifer Axel |
| Barbara and Craig Barrett |
| Paul and Mary Ellen Baump |
| Yvonne A. and Steve Betts |
| Mark and Shawna Bonnett |
| Sue Bunch |
| Jacqueline Chadwick |
| Bill, Shirlee, Sarah and Bryan Cobb |
| Avery N. Crossman |
| Cindy Eckert-Timm and Damon Timm |
| Kristin and Ryan Hartman |
| Pam and John Haugen |
| Lynne Hipp |
| Becky and Daniel Lieberman |
| Christine Lowery-Nunez and Rick Nunez |
| Debi Maxwell |
| Denise and Scott Mitchell |
| Jon and Joan Nost |
| Kristin and Bob Peck |
| Phil and Kim Petersen |
| In Memory of Dr. Jason Evans |
| Carol and Randy Schilling |
| Stanley Twarog |
| Jacob and Jenna Wilkes |
| The Zucker Girls |
$1000 - $4,999
| Abdo Family |
| Mike and Kim Abel |
| Allard/Sutton Family |
| Debbie and Jeff Andrews |
| Kelly Arwari |
| Brian and Kaye Baehr |
| Charles and Sandra Bonstelle |
| Jeremy Bound |
| Richard Burnham |
| Gary Cantwell |
| Kimberly and Bill Davis |
| Cyndi DeBoer |
| Robert DeStasio |
| Kelley Durham |
| Susan M. Fagerstrom |
| Doreen Feldberg |
| Carrie Flood |
| Jennifer L. Flowers |
| Drew and Jenny Foster |
| Mark Frodyma |
| Donna Gibson |
| Linda and Daniel Hardwick |
| David and Wendy Howell |
| Harry and Cheryl Jones |
| Jeanna Kozak |
| Dave and Regina Loncala |
| Alisa and Wally Maher |
| Marjorie and Ronald McComb |
| Michele Pitzer |
| Sherry and Robert Pobieglo |
| Rosemary Pomeroy |
| Jim and Pamela Pratt |
| Natasha Price |
| Christopher Ramos |
| Steve Roberson and Amanda Donagi |
| Rockefeller Group |
| Marcy and Mark Singerman |
| Virginia Sylvester |
| Ron and Susan Telesko |
| Michael Tucker |
| Randall Tully |
| Susan M. Turner |
| Susan and Richard Turner |
| Mary Ann Wells |
| Gary and Kay West |
