A Los Angeles County civil grand jury says the L.A. Zoo can’t keep operating the way it has amid deteriorating facilities and rapidly declining membership, urging the city to move toward a new public-private partnership. The report points to a $1-million budge
On June 27, a closed exhibit sign sat inside an animal enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo. The message was blunt, but the problem behind it is bigger than a single gate—and the civil grand jury says the city’s current way of running the zoo can’t endure.
In a 2025-2026 report. the Los Angeles County civil grand jury concluded that the zoo can’t continue operating the way it has been. citing deteriorating facilities and rapidly declining membership. The jury urged a new public-private partnership, arguing the shift is crucial for the facility to survive.
The grand jury’s findings land in a city already strained financially. It said Los Angeles. facing financial problems including a $1-million budget shortfall this year. would continue to struggle to manage the zoo—now deteriorated and lacking funding for maintenance and new projects amid ongoing revenue loss.
Membership decline is at the center of the jury’s account. Zoo membership dropped from 36,914 in April 2025 to 28,440 in February 2026—an 8,474-membership loss, or a 23% drop in less than one year.
The report also paints day-to-day operations as a maze of oversight. The L.A. Zoo is described as the last major American zoo governed by a city department. Managing it. the jury said. requires navigating a bureaucratic jungle that includes the zoo commission. neighborhood councils. city attorney. city controller and other departments. along with the mayor and the City Council.
In language meant to underline the stakes. the civil grand jury urged the city to look at how other zoos stay afloat—largely by turning to public-private partnerships. “Simply stated. to keep these important educational institutions afloat. almost all zoos across the United States have turned to public-private partnerships. ” the jury wrote. It acknowledged the transition would be difficult.
“The zoo transition is extremely complex. involving chain of command. authority. management. supervision. labor. utilities. maintenance. construction. finances. and animal care (acquisition. exhibits. and disposition). ” the report read. “Every participating agency. director. and manager must understand this is not a ‘win-win’ situation. but rather a question of ‘What is best for the Zoo?’”.
For months, the zoo’s future has also been entangled in a legal dispute. The civil grand jury recommendation comes as the city remains in a legal dispute over a $50-million endowment with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. described in the report as a longtime fundraising partner. For nearly five decades. the report said GLAZA helped the zoo by funding exhibits. plant and animal species conservation. capital projects. and education and community outreach programs.
“A community zoo needs consistent nourishment to flourish,” the jury wrote. “For a zoo. besides significant volunteer participation. the nourishment is money.” It said wealthy benefactors or nonprofits often provide that money. and that for years the Los Angeles Zoo believed it had that support through GLAZA.
“When that belief turned into litigation, our zoo’s future became imperiled,” the report read. “Its relationship with GLAZA now lies in ruins, crashed on the rocky shore of a major lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court.”
The jury pointed to other models the city could study. It suggested the city look at successful private-public partnerships including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or the Natural History Museum—each run by a nonprofit with some of its leadership appointed directly by the County Board of Supervisors.
The report’s case is grounded in the zoo’s physical decline and animal-care pressures. The L.A. Zoo houses more than 1,600 animals and, the jury said, has become dilapidated over the years. It cited exhibit closures including the lions. bears. sea lions and pelicans. saying those enclosures have closed because they need major renovations.
It also pointed to the fate of the zoo’s last two elephants, Billy and Tina, who were transferred last year to the Tulsa Zoo after decades of campaigning by animal rights advocates over living conditions and a history of deaths and health challenges.
The 59-year-old zoo occupies 133 acres in the northeast corner of Griffith Park, and it has struggled to maintain national accreditation. Federal regulators, the report said, found peeling paint and rust in some exhibits.
Those concerns were not limited to accreditation. The report said U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors and the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums found a “critical lack of funding and staffing to address even the most basic repairs. ” a point L.A. Zoo officials made in a budget document in November 2024.
The civil grand jury said it made similar observations when it visited the zoo during its probe. “The Zoo is special. a community asset with naturalistic exhibits. conservation initiatives. animal interaction. and in-depth programming. providing such a meaningful experience takes money. lots of it. ” the civil grand jury wrote. “The City of Los Angeles today can no longer tolerate or sustain that burden on its budget.”.
In its recommendation, the jury urged the city to begin looking for a new benefactor by at least next April—specifically someone familiar with the public-private zoo partnership needed to assist with the transition.
Behind the report’s language is a simple reality the city can’t outlast: when facilities deteriorate and revenue falls. every delayed decision becomes more expensive. For a zoo that sits in the heart of Griffith Park and holds more than 1. 600 animals. the grand jury says the current structure is no longer keeping up. In the meantime, the closed exhibit sign remains a quiet reminder of what time is already costing.
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