Three Lions, Two Yards, and Room for Eight

Blank Park Zoo opened the Marjorie A. Foster Lion Conservation Center on Thursday, October 29, 2026, and the number that matters is the capacity: the Des Moines zoo’s lion space is now more than three times what it was, built as two connected outdoor yards that can hold up to eight African lions between them. Three lions moved in on opening day.

They came from two other accredited zoos on a breeding recommendation. Renno, a three-year-old male, arrived from the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas. Denny and Asali, three-year-old sisters, arrived from the Buffalo Zoo in New York. Blank Park Zoo’s own lions, Deuce and Zarina, are expected to move into the new habitat in early 2027, which would put five animals in a space designed for eight.

What exactly is bigger?

The footprint, and the way it is divided. The old lion habitat was a single space. The Lion Conservation Center is two connected outdoor yards with multiple viewing areas arranged around them, which is a different thing from one large pen. Two yards let keepers separate animals without taking any of them off habitat, which is what lets a zoo go from a pair of lions to a group of eight. A pride is not a fixed arrangement, and lions that need a break from each other need somewhere to take it.

The count is worth stating plainly, because “triple the size” invites a reader to picture one enormous enclosure. Two yards is the structure. Capacity for eight is what the structure makes possible.

The center sits in the zoo’s Jamaa Kwa Africa section, between the Holmes Foster Event Center and the giraffe yard, and it is named for Marjorie Foster, the longtime supporter whose gift paid for it.

Why is there an airplane in the lion habitat?

Because the whole center is built on an airplane hangar theme, and the designers put a real aircraft in it that guests can explore. Floor-to-ceiling viewing windows run along part of the habitat, so the close views and the plane are the two things a visitor is going to remember. It is an unusual choice for a lion exhibit, and the zoo has been open about it since the groundbreaking.

“This space gives the lions room to roam, explore and thrive, while giving our guests an unforgettable opportunity to see these magnificent animals and learn why their conservation matters,” said Anne Shimerdla, president and CEO of Blank Park Zoo.

Why move three lions across three states?

All three arrivals came through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan for African lions. A Species Survival Plan treats every lion at every accredited institution as one managed population rather than as a set of separate collections, and decides which animal should live where, solving for stable social groups and for enough genetic diversity that the population sustains itself. Room for eight animals is what buys Blank Park Zoo a larger part in that program. A zoo with space for two is a destination for very few recommendations.

When the zoo broke ground in May 2025, Shimerdla said lion populations in the wild had fallen by more than 40 percent in three decades, and framed the building as Iowa’s link to that work. We covered the groundbreaking here. The projection then was a summer 2026 opening. The doors opened in late October.

What comes next at Blank Park Zoo?

This is the first major habitat finished under Expand the Impact, the capital campaign the zoo calls its largest fundraising effort in 40 years, and the zoo describes the center as its largest expansion in more than a decade. Two more projects are named for 2027: an expanded Amur tiger habitat, and the Ruan Foundation Wild Iowa, which will house North American river otters, bald eagles, bobcat and other species native to the state.

Blank Park Zoo is the only AZA-accredited zoo in Iowa, and it turns 60 this year. The full announcement is on the zoo’s site here. The lions are on habitat now.