Environment Ministry Loses Court Battle to Close Costa Rica’s Zoos

20 August 2015

- Public zoos will remain open in Costa Rica for at least 10 more years following a court ruling last Friday in favor of nonprofit group FUNDAZOO, which administers San José’s Simón Bolívar Zoo and the Santa Ana Conservation Center, citing a contractual technicality that will allow the group to continue operating the zoos until 2024. The Environment Ministry, or MINAE, had said it would close both zoos in May.

Following years of complaints about the two public zoos’ conditions, MINAE announced last July that it planned to convert them into cageless bio-parks, and either release or place in rescue centers some 400 animals.