blog entry

World Zoo Night

Tonight, Columbia and Amsterdam and Krakow and Johannesburg will have something in common.  Riverbanks Zoo is joining zoos around the world, opening their gates after hours for patients from their local children’s hospitals.

Children from Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital, their families and caretakers are the guests of honor for Dreamnight at the Zoo.  For many of the kids, it will be their first chance to visit a zoo.  

Riverbanks staff and more than 200 volunteers will be working tonight, putting on an Under the Sea themed party along with private tours.  Lindsay Burke of Riverbanks says, “Dreamnight at the Zoo has become a tradition that the entire staff looks forward to each year.” 

Dreamnight at the Zoo takes place annually worldwide on the first Friday night in June.  It was started in the Netherlands in 1996 by the Rotterdam Zoo.  Riverbanks Zoo has been participating since 2004.  Thirty-four zoos in the U.S. will participate tonight.