The Lee G. Simmons Wildlife Safari Park in Ashland, Nebraska has kept its accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The association’s independent Accreditation Commission confirmed the decision on September 29, 2026, at the AZA annual conference in Portland, Oregon, closing out a review that had been running for about a year.
The Safari Park is an affiliated facility of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, and the two are accredited separately. Both now hold the standing independently, which is less common than it sounds: fewer than ten percent of the roughly 2,800 wildlife exhibitors licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture carry AZA accreditation at all.
What the inspectors actually look at
Accreditation is not a plaque for good intentions. The facility files a long written application, hosts an independent team of zoological professionals for a multiple-day on-site inspection, and then appears in person before the Accreditation Commission at a formal hearing. The team works through animal care and wellbeing, veterinary programs, staff training, guest and animal safety, educational programming, conservation, financial stability, risk management, governance and guest services.
Then everyone does it again five years later. AZA’s own description of the process puts the renewal cycle at five years and lists the same sweep of operations, which is the part worth holding onto: a facility cannot pass once and coast. The Safari Park has been accredited since it opened in 1998, so it has now cleared this gate repeatedly across nearly three decades.
A win the keepers own
“I am extremely proud of the work our team does every day at the Lee G. Simmons Wildlife Safari Park,” said Dr. Luis Padilla, president and CEO of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and the Safari Park. “AZA accreditation is independent validation of the professional excellence that guides every aspect of our operations, especially the exceptional care our animals receive, the significance of our species conservation efforts, and the impact we have on our community. This is a comprehensive process, but these are not standards our team prepares to meet once every five years. They are standards our team lives every day.”
That last line is the honest description of how this works. Inspectors turn up and read the records, so the keepers, veterinary staff, guest services teams and groundskeepers are the people whose daily habits are being graded. The zoo makes the same point in its own announcement, calling the result a celebration of the people behind it. Omaha has put real money behind that side of the operation before, including its veterinary hospital on the main zoo campus.
What does accreditation change for a visitor?
Practically, nothing changes at the gate. The Safari Park is open in Ashland as before, and a visitor will not see the application file or the hearing transcript. What the accreditation tells them is that an outside team of professionals spent days walking the same ground they are about to walk, asked for the paperwork behind every habitat, and signed off on it.
Quick answers
- What is AZA accreditation?
A standard of professional practice awarded by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums after an independent review. A facility files a long written application, hosts an outside team of zoological professionals for a multiple-day on-site inspection, and then appears before the Accreditation Commission at a formal hearing. AZA puts the renewal cycle at five years.
- What do the inspectors examine?
Animal care and wellbeing, veterinary programs, staff training, guest and animal safety, educational programming, conservation efforts, financial stability, risk management, governance and guest services.
- Is the Safari Park the same thing as Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo?
No. The Lee G. Simmons Wildlife Safari Park, in Ashland, Nebraska, is an affiliated facility of Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, and the two hold AZA accreditation independently of one another.
- How long has the Safari Park been accredited?
Since it opened in 1998. The decision announced on September 29, 2026 continues that standing rather than granting it for the first time.
- How unusual is it to be AZA accredited?
Fewer than ten percent of the roughly 2,800 wildlife exhibitors licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture hold it.
