Members Only
Welcome to our Members Only page and thank you for being a part of our zoo family.
Visit the membership page to review levels, renew or buy a membership as a gift. Scroll down to the Zoo News section below to read out our Members Only early opening for Zoo Camp registration starting January 5th, 2026 at 10am AK time. The link will be added to this page for members only!
Zoo Insider News:
Updated 12/31/2025
New Zoo News:
12/31/25: From your zoo friends, we wish you a very Happy New Year and safe celebrations this evening! We look forward to monthly member events with you this year, fun times at events, memories made on the trails, zoo camps and more. We appreciate your support.
We have until midnight for donations to the camel expansion. Make your tax deductible donation online today! Click here to donate.
Zoo Camp registration for 2026 will be opening next week - who is excited? We are opening registration for zoo members on January 5th at 10am AK time, the link will be added to this page for members only. We will open camps to everyone on January 6th at 10am.
Before you register for camp, be sure that you can log into your membership account. Visit the membership page and follow these instructions:
Login to your account on the web portal (https://alaskazoo.ticketapp.org/portal/pages/membership, go to the top-right corner, My Account > Login).
Once logged in, go to your account profile page (in the top-right corner, navigate to Your Name > Profile.). If your membership is properly connected, you should see your membership ID and information in your profile and no further action is needed.
If you don’t see this, go to the lefthand taskbar and click Find My Membership.
Enter your Membership ID and click Locate Membership. If you do not have your Membership ID, email accounting@alaskazoo.org
Verify your membership (using the primary phone or email).
Once you receive the verification phone via text or email, enter the code and click Submit Code and Reset Account.
You should now see your membership appearing within your account profile.
The reason we ask you to check this is that you need to be logged into your membership account to receive your $70 discount per camp session. You will log in, then shop for camps and the discounted price will show up in checkout in the final steps. The issue of memberships not being connected to profiles is rare, and usually applies to those who purchased their membership before April 1, 2025 when we migrated to our new system.
Contact accounting@alaskazoo.org if you have questions.
Old Zoo News - Still Good To Know!
12/23/25: We are offering zoo members 50% off of their discounted Zoo Lights rate. This means that each Zoo Lights ticket for members ages 3+ will be just $7.50 (small service fees are added if buying online). This offer is valid from December 24th through January 4th! We are also in need of lots of peanut butter, a popular food for animals during this cold weather. Feel free to bring a jar of peanut butter and leave it at admissions for the animals!
12/17/25: 🥶 COLD WEATHER DEAL 🥶 FREE ZOO ENTRY this Sunday 12/21 at our annual Christmas for the Animals event IF you bring a bag or sled full of food donations to stuff the animal stockings! Plus, after the daytime fun, Zoo Members get FREE ZOO LIGHT on the night of 12/21 from 5-8pm.
11/26/25: Are you ready to join the camel caravan? We have exciting news that a new Bactrian camel companion will be heading north soon to join Knobby at the Alaska Zoo. This new arrival follows in the footsteps of late camel Mary Lu and zoo supporters N.E. "Knobby" and Mary Ellen Segelhorst, who first brought camels to the Alaska Zoo in the early 1990's. The two remained ardent supporters of the zoo and camels, with their estate now continuing their legacy of support for our mission.
With this new camel arriving soon and the recent move of the Tibetan yak herd to their new home across the trail, we have an opportunity to use this valuable real estate to expand the camel habitat. This expansion will include new fencing, a sandy area which the camels will enjoy during summer months, a pole barn for standing shelter to aid in joint health and an elevated platform which will allow visitors to have camel encounters with a closer vantage point.
Our goal is to reach $50,000 in donations for this habitat expansion by December 31st. This effort will begin on Giving Tuesday, December 2nd. On this day, we hope to jumpstart fundraising for this project through public donations of $12,000 to match an additional $12,000 offered by a generous zoo supporter. Every dollar you donate will go twice as far on Giving Tuesday!
As an added bonus, zoo staff will be going LIVE on Facebook on Giving Tuesday with Knobby the camel at 10am, 12pm and 2pm AK time. While we will be accepting donations online throughout the day to reach our $12,000 goal in public donations, these live sessions on Facebook will allow you to get to know Knobby and learn about his life at the zoo. We will discuss his personality, care, the habitat project and the many fascinating facts about this species whose wild counterparts live in the Gobi Desert. We hope you will join us in making this expansion a reality!
Donations above the $12,000 public goal on Giving Tuesday will apply toward the overall project goal of $50,000. If we exceed this overall project number, donations will go toward animal care and zoo operations in our General Fund. Thank you for your support! Photo of Knobby by Zookeeper Sarah.
11/17/25: Things are always busy at the zoo, no matter the time of year! On the animal front - Lily, the red fox who arrived this summer as part of a facility closure, will soon be moved in with Ember the red fox. We hope they will get along well! Brown bears Oreo, Izzy and Taiga (formerly Kitty) will be asleep soon for winter. The black bears are already asleep in their den building. We are hiring for another zookeeper, check out our job openings (we have several) clicking here. On a zoo-wide front, we are beginning a master planning process which we will be working on for the next several months. At some point soon, we will ask members what they would like to see at the zoo! We value member input. Zoo Lights are going up around the zoo as we speak, with our facilities crew hard at work to get everything ready for opening night on Friday, November 28th from 5-8pm. Tickets are on sale online or you can buy entry at the gate. See Zoo Lights info here. We have other upcoming events like our CyberMonday discounted Zoo Lights sale happening online on December 1st (see the Zoo Lights link) and Giving Tuesday which will be a series of live events on Facebook on December 2nd to raise funds for the zoo’s mission.
11/7/25: With 6 inches of new snowfall yesterday, we are seeing our first winter conditions of the season! Our facilities crew is working hard to keep the trails maintained for visitors. Black bears Zayk and PW are now officially asleep in their den building for the winter. We will see them again in late April. Brown bears Oreo, Taiga and Izzy are working their way toward their winter’s sleep. They usually go to sleep later than the black bears and they wake up earlier (referring to the bears currently at the zoo), in March with conditions depending.
The zoo will be announcing today (10/14/25) the sad news of the passing of Grubby, who staff had internally renamed to Ophelia. Grubby was the opossum who stowed away north and arrived in Homer in 2023. She was brought to the zoo, as were her babies (joeys) who were discovered and caught around Homer. She passed peacefully at the old opossum age of 3.5 years on Saturday the 11th. The average wild life span of this species is 1-2 years. Her species is invasive in Alaska, so she had a second chance at life thanks to the big hearts of zoo staff. She will be greatly missed by all of us. Click here to read the full story in our press release.
Taiga the brown bear (formerly Kitty) is now living her daily life with zoo bears Izzy and Oreo. She came to us this summer from a closing facility and we had her living separately all summer due to her health needs. We are very happy to see all three brown bears living together now.
It will be hibernation time soon for zoo black and brown bears. Keepers have noticed that black bears Zayk and PW are getting a little slower and a little cranky. Plan a visit to see them soon before it’s lights out for the winter for them!
Male wolverine Jumbo was recently neutered. He and his mate Olga have had a couple of litters of kits, so their genes are well represented in the captive wolverine population. Jumbo is now in retirement from fatherhood!
The muskox calf that came in as an orphan in May 2025 is now living with Maya and Sarah Elizabeth. Her name is now Shelley Bean, named from the Champions of the Wild gala.
We still have polar bear and tiger encounters available if you are interested in reserving one. Click here to visit the page.
Wildlife Wednesdays FREE Science Lecture season has kicked off for another winter series. Join us on the second Wednesday each month (Oct-Apr, minus Dec) for a free lecture on a wildlife topic in Alaska. See our page for the schedule and topics.
Mark your calendar for the first week of January - Summer Adventure Camps will open that week! They sell out very quickly and the top choices go fast, so be sure to keep tabs on it. We will send members a reminder.
We have homeschool field trip programs and Zoo Snooze overnights (with and without Zoo Lights). Be sure to check these programs out. Storytime is also still happening each week on Wednesdays at 10:30am in the Gateway Hall, sponsored by ConocoPhillips Alaska.