Point Defiance Zoo And Aquarium
About Us
This Zoo is large enough to offer an awesome array of animals yet small enough to let you get really close to them. It's fun and affordable AND offers breathtaking views of Puget Sound, Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains!
Come explore the only combined zoo & aquarium in the Northwest. You'll see seahorses and sharks, peacocks and penquins, wolves and walrus, all in one place.
Our History
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, located on 29 acres overlooking beautiful Puget Sound inside the 700-acre Point Defiance Park, was founded in 1905.
In the summer of 1936, two young Tacomans built a saltwater aquarium on the concrete pavilion over Commencement Bay. The aquarium was relocated to its present site within the Zoo in 1963. In the 1980s, the Zoo & Aquarium witnessed a kaleidoscope of changes with the addition of six new naturalistic exhibits. With the passage of a $35 million bond by Tacoma voters in 1999 and a Pierce County sales tax initiative passed in 2000, the Zoo & Aquarium continues to grow.
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is a national leader in captive breeding and reintroduction efforts for the endangered red wolf and is also engaged in the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA's) Species Survival Plan for the endangered Bali Mynah, golden lion tamarin, snow leopard, clouded leopard, radiated tortoise and Asian elephant.
It is the only facility in the Pacific Northwest to exhibit beluga whales, a Pacific walrus and large sharks. The Zoo is also a past recipient of the Exhibit Achievement Award for its polar bear complex, an honor given by AZA.
Averaging nearly 500,000 visitors annually, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is the second most visited year-round attraction in Pierce County. (Mt. Rainier National Park is the first.)
