Blank Park Zoo broke ground on Ruan Foundation Wild Iowa on Thursday, November 6, 2025, an expansion built around the animals that live in the state rather than the ones that do not.
The project sits in the middle of the Des Moines zoo and is the next major piece of an $18 million capital campaign called Expand the Impact. The zoo used the same day to launch a celebration of its 60th anniversary.
Otters, eagles, bobcats and turtles
Wild Iowa adds a river otter habitat with underwater viewing, a cabin housing native turtles and reptiles, and Prairie Meadows Bobcat Meadows, which brings a species new to the zoo. The Nationwide Foundation funded a new bald eagle habitat that gives the zoo’s rehabilitated eagles more sunlight, natural perching and space.
“Wild Iowa celebrates the animals and ecosystems that make our state so special,” said Anne Shimerdla, president and CEO of Blank Park Zoo. “From otters and eagles to bobcats and turtles, these new habitats will help tell the story of Iowa’s wildlife while inspiring future generations to protect it.”
Each of the species involved plays a part in the zoo’s rehabilitation and conservation programs. Support for the project came from the Ruan Foundation, the Polk County Board of Supervisors, the Nationwide Foundation and other partners.
Sixty years in Des Moines
The anniversary celebration runs a year and a half and covers six decades of conservation, education, research and recreation. A new anniversary logo borrows design elements from the zoo’s original 1986 mark.
Blank Park Zoo opened on May 8, 1966 as the Des Moines Children’s Zoo, after A.H. Blank donated $150,000 to the City of Des Moines to build it near old Fort Des Moines and community members raised matching funds. It closed for renovations from 1983 to 1985 and reopened in 1986 under its current name.
