The Examiner is reporting that morale is low over at the San Francisco Zoo: low attendance, a year's worth of the maintenance budget squandered in two months on necessary upgrades to the zoo (whose figure apparently "doesn’t include a $1.8 million bond released by the Recreation and Park Department to pay for upgrades at the tiger grotto"). Following the infamous tiger attack on Christmas Day, the zoo is plagued by numerous problems that its......

The Intrepid Travel, some sort of online travel guide -- one that clearly has no access to the internets, TV, newspapers, phones, water coolers -- is bestowing the SF Zoo (along with 60 others) with the title of Best Zoo of 2008. Yes. Yes, they are. While the title of Most Interesting Zoo of 2008 seems appropriate, we still can't figure out if this is some sort of joke. Here's part of the remarkable......

Photo credit: George Nikitin/AP Photo, San Francisco Zoo, 3/15/08 Cute, yes? The San Francisco Zoo just released images of the newborn Sumatran tiger cub triplets born this past week to Leanne and George. Here are a few shots of the new kittens waiting for their first health exam. For a few more photos of small cat preciousness, follow the jump.......

The big cat grottoes re-open for public view....

Ride your bike at the San Francisco Zoo without fear of ejection or arrest on the BikeAbout tour. ...

Because Valentine's Day is about necking, red roses, and Whitman's Samplers -- and not about making that special someone your creampie cutie for the night, you perverts -- the San Francisco Zoo's annual adult-only "Zoo Sex Tour" has changed its name to “Woo at the Zoo.” Why? No idea. But the zoo tells us: Contrary to common belief, the animals will not “mate on cue” during the Zoo’s adults-only affair (21 years and older),......

Wow. This is a bit depressing. Scratch that, a lot. According to the Chron, former directors of zoos around the globe gave the San Francisco Zoo a failing grade when it comes to caring for animals. Some of the zoo's problems are "severely outdated exhibits and animals that behave unnaturally." Take, for example, glaring issues as the African Savanna exhibit -- which lacks enough shelter or food for animals, according to Peter Stroud, a......

Due to the "unusual and extraordinary" Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo -- which resulted in the mauling death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and wounding of Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal -- a three-member tiger team formed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has been called in to examine the zoo's big cat grotto. While the investigation and renovations are underway, the tigers and lions are currently kicking it indoors.......

At the bargain price of just $35 dollars down at City Hall this morning, authorities released the emergency 911 tapes of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks. The attacks, if you don't remember, occurred on Christmas Day, taking the life of Carlos Sousa Jr. and injuring the now (in)famous Dhaliwal brothers. The footage is raw, with the most unnerving robotic British female voice overlapping the frantic phone call, but to check listen to the......

At about 7:10 a..m. this morning, Lisa, a San Francisco Zoo zebra died. Named Lisa, the zebra was born in February of 1998. (An Aquarian? An even greater loss.) According to a spokesperson at SF Zoo, "reports of [Lisa] salivating while on exhibit in the African Savanna led to an examination by the Zoo veterinarian. The zebra was placed in her indoor stall in the Hoofstock Barn and treated with a common equine medication."......

(Look at us, getting all PETA on you with that headline. Gross.) While two snow leopards at the San Francisco Zoo were in the process of being moved from their pen to another location "for routine maintenance," one of the male snow leopards, Gurja, almost escaped. Gulp. According to CBS 5: The unidentified source told KCBS Radio the male leopard, named Gurja, had its head and front leg through the hole when the zookeeper......

SFist Jim reports that he went to the reopening of the San Francisco Zoo today, where he snapped the picture, above, of the tributes being placed at the zoo's tiger statue, and which he described as "a big bust." When we first read SFist Jim's email, we thought he was talking about the tiger statue (we were like, "they made a bust of Tatiana? So fast!"), but no, he meant the crowds, which were......

Behold, the tight-lipped duo who, at this point last week, couldn't have imagined the death and subsequent big-cat madness in store for them today. Under supervision at San Francisco General Hospital, due to severe bite and claw wounds since last Monday, Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were released into the wild yesterday afternoon. In addition to the brothers' hospital release, NPR reports that all the big cats at SF Zoo will most likely......

SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

Second verse, same as the first: The San Francisco Zoo will remain closed on Friday, December 28, 2007. Please visit www.sfzoo.org for information as to when the Zoo will reopen to the public. According to their site, the zoo claims to be closed "out of respect for the victims of Tuesday's incidents," although we imagine that their reverence for said tiger attack victims has waned considerably. Just saying. In all reality, the continued closure......

SFPD arrived at the zoo to find the critically endangered cat on top of one of her victims. According to CBS 5, "the tiger then started moving toward [the] group of approaching police officers, and they opened fire with handguns," killing Tatiana. As of now, it's not known just how the tiger managed to escape, well, captivity....

A stone’s throw from Lake Merced and San Francisco Zoo, there’s a secluded land where the scent of freshly cut and watered grass wafts through the air. Where the juniper bushes are neatly sculptured and the single-family houses are defiantly unattached to one another. Where untidiness of yard and home is possibly met with scorn and derision among whispering neighbors. On Country Club Drive between Berkshire and Ocean, landscaping is king, putting green lawns and rock gardens remain all the rage, and the number of residents in the 20-39 age bracket appears to be minimal, at most. This block may be an allergy sufferer’s or Mission hipster’s nightmare, and its name may portend false images of Chase and Hilary Whitebread whizzing off in their electric golf cart to the first tee, all bent out of shape about how “the help” failed for the third time this month to feed Shrilly the Pomeranian her Alpo Premium. But, holy smokes, the street’s called “Country Club Drive,” and it’s in San Francisco. We could not resist its pull....

Remember back in December when a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo went ballistic on a trainer and mauled her to near-death in front of dozens of visitors? Well, guess what kids…the Lion House is finally open again for your maul-viewing pleasure! Look how cute and cuddly these guy are. We’re sure these African lions think what Tatiana, the Siberian tigress did was totally déclassé. If you’re still suffering from PTSD after nine months......

They’re just so darn cute. Take a look at three of the four baby penguins that just moved into their new digs at the San Francisco Zoo yesterday. Riley, Charlie, Thistle, and Gnocchi (omg, too cute) are only 12 weeks old. Fresh out of “fish school,” these tuxedo-wearing chick magnets are living it up across from the Lion House on Penguin Island. By the handsome looks of these birds, it’s no wonder that Penguin Island......

We're going to San Francisco Zoo its annual Night Tour. While in the past, the Night Tour has been a Members Only (not the jackets, silly) affair, tonight the Zoo is releasing 1000 tickets to regular slobs like us, for tonight's tour only. Visitors will revel in this ultimate after-hours adventure that includes more than 10 special animal presentations and feedings and continuous live entertainment...Highlights include the African Savanna at dusk; exclusive behind-the-scenes tours......

SFist covers the "March of the Penguins" at the San Francisco Zoo...

Many of us were disconcerted by the stories of forced abandonment of animals by their guardians in the wake of disasters, and asked ourselves "How would our dumb-ass cats fare on their own? Maybe if they were forced to fare for themselves, they'd finally appreciate how freakin' good thay have it. Yeah!" It looks like we're getting closer to never having to find out just how well Mr. Sniffy can operate a can opener, as......

A few years ago we went to the San Francisco Zoo and became entranced with the prairie dog and meerkat exhibit. We could have spent the entire day in that one section watching the prairie dogs prairie-dogging, and the meerkats doing their sit-on-hind-legs-turn head-this-way-and-that-way thing all day. ALL DAY, we tells ya! When we got home that night we immediately programmed two TiVo wishlists: one for "prairie dogs" and the other for "meerkats." The......

Yay San Francisco Zoo! Not only did it win back its accreditation, but it also vaulted into Comedy Central gold with an inspired intern's (possibly unauthorized?) email to the Colbert Report show asking if Stephen Colbert would be interested in having a baby bald eagle named after him. Genius! The picture to your left is a still from the show, featuring John Ashcroft's rendition of "Let The Eagle Soar," as Stephen picked his namesake hatchling-to-be. (Click here to watch the video -- it's labeled "Stephen Jr.") According to the zoo, this is all part of its Bald Eagle Breeding Program, which was started in 1985 to repopulate California with eagles after they almost died out because of DDT. Since 1991, the SF Zoo has released 90 bald eagle chicks into the wild, and this year, the eagles have laid 17 eggs so far, one of which is Stephen Jr. When they hatch, about half of the chicks will be raised on Catalina Island, and the other half will be raised at the conservation center and released on Santa Cruz Island. Check out on the right what little fuzzy Stephen Jr. will look like when he makes it out of his chiton shell! Webcam fans, watch the eggs here (site appears to have down for now, but will hopefully come back up soon -- click on Eagle Nest Cam). John Ashcroft fans, click here for video and audio clips of "Let The Eagle Soar."...

When God Winked opens The Marsh's new space in Berkeley....

Missed all the big controversy involving "Grizzlygate" due to endless contemplation that Tom Cruise is now dating Joey? Well, we did too. But have no fear, SFist is here! What the what is that the San Francisco Zoo has gotten themselves in a bit of a pickle over the naming of two new grizzly bears that they rescued from Montana. The zoo thought it would be a great idea to hold a contest and so, with great fanfare, announced one. They thought the idea was so good, in fact, that they tried to get sponsorship for the contest to raise money. When all of the possible sponsors dropped out, the zoo quietly announced that instead of naming the bears based on the more than 750 contestant entries, they'll auction off the naming rights to the highest bidder. When Merrill and Cinnie Magowan paid $32,500 to name the bears after themselves, or at least their grandchildren's nicknames for them, the up met roar. The zoo now has a major PR nightmare on their hands for bailing on a hyped contest in a money grab. And as, expected, most of the anger and concern is over the children. Because what will we tell the children when they find out that all of their entries were thrown away and instead given to the highest bidder? We bet those kids are already contemplating a life of crime. Said one poster to an SFGate forum: "This is sick how some rich folk can name the bears after their family members." ...