Support Your Favorite Animal

Show your love for animals at the Milwaukee County Zoo by sponsoring an animal! Each animal sponsorship helps the Zoological Society fulfill their mission to conserve wildlife and endangered species, educate people about the importance of wildlife and the environment, and support the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Pick your favorite animal or choose a limited-time-offer animal sponsorship opportunity that comes with a plush toy! Each sponsorship comes with a certificate, a subscription to Wild Things newsletter and our Alive magazine, your name displayed in the Peck Welcome Center, and an invitation to a behind-the-scenes event. Higher sponsorships come with even more benefits like attraction tickets, a picture of your sponsored animal, or a private behind-the-scenes tour.

Sponsorship Benefits    Sponsor Now

Sponsor An Animal

Limited-Time Offers

Our exciting limited-time offers are a great opportunity to help sponsor an animal. These offers generally coincide with significant holidays, making your contribution a perfect gift for a friend or loved one! For a set price, you can get all the benefits of sponsoring an animal plus an adorable plush.

Our current offers include:
Sponsor An Animal Bee Lto

Bee the Change

What is your first reaction when you hear that familiar buzzing sound? Nervous, perhaps a little afraid? Some people fear bees, but bees won’t sting unless they are provoked or feel threatened. The more we know about our bee friends, the more we learn to appreciate them and their very important role in the earth’s biodiversity puzzle!

“Bee” helpful this spring and participate in No Mow May. This conservation initiative encourages people to stop mowing or mow less often for the month of May to create habitat and provide resources for bees and other pollinators.

A bee sponsorship is all the buzz this spring! Sponsorships make a great gift idea for birthdays, anniversaries or other special occasions. This limited-time offer is available through May 31, 2023, or while supplies last.

  • An adorable plush-toy bee
  • A certificate of sponsorship
  • A colorful bee fact sheet
  • A fun bee activity sheet
  • A pollinator seed mix packet
  • An invitation to a behind-the-scenes event for animal sponsors at the Zoo
  • Sponsor recognition on an “All in the Family” donor board at the Zoo for a year
  • A Sponsor an Animal decal

Send your gift anywhere in the continental United States. Shipping and handling included.

Sponsor An Animal Harbor Seal Lto

You’re Flippin’ Amazing!

Found throughout the northern waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, harbor seals have one of the widest ranges of the seal family. Equipped with four flippers harbor seals can quickly and easily move throughout the water. Moving their hind flippers from side to side to propel themselves forward and using their fore flippers to help them steer. They can swim forward, upside down and reach speeds up to 12 miles per hour.

Meet Cossette! Cossette arrived at the Milwaukee County Zoo in April 2016 as part of the Species Survival Plan® (SSP), in order to maintain genetic diversity in the zoo population. She became a first-time mom in May 2022, when she gave birth to a female pup who was named Leia. A gift sponsorship of Cossette would get the “seal” of approval for a first-time mom on Mother’s Day or anyone you think is flippin’ amazing. This limited-time offer is available through July 31, 2023.

  • An adorable plush-toy harbor seal
  • A certificate of sponsorship
  • A colorful fact sheet about harbor seals
  • An invitation to an event for animal sponsors held in August
  • A one-year subscription to Alive magazine and Wild Things newsletter
  • Sponsor recognition on our “All in the Family” donor board for a year
  • An animal sponsor decal

Upgrade your sponsorship to the $100 level to:

  • Receive a photo of Cossette and two Zoo attraction tickets in addition to the benefits listed above.
  • Be entered for a chance to win a harbor seal behind-the-scenes experience for four!
    • The person purchasing the harbor seal sponsorship will be entered into the drawing. Sponsorship must be purchased on or before May 31, 2023, in order to be entered. Tour must be scheduled ahead of time. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Winner will be notified by email or phone.

Send your gift anywhere in the continental United States. Shipping and handling included. We must receive your order by May 5, 2023, to guarantee delivery for Mother’s Day.

Kids Conservation Club

Give kids a chance to make a difference – after all, they’re our future conservationists! The Zoological Society’s Kids Conservation Club gives children the scoop on endangered species and ways to help these animals survive. For $25 a year (per child), Kids Conservation Club members sponsor an endangered animal at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Benefits include an animal fact sheet on that year’s animal, collector cards with endangered animals, the child’s name in the Peck Welcome Center, invitations to educational workshops that include crafts and zookeeper talks, and much more.

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Gift Sponsorships

Animal sponsorships make great gifts for people of all ages for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, anniversaries and so much more. If you sponsor an animal as a gift, benefits apply to the gift recipient. However, the gift is tax-deductible for the person that purchased the sponsorship. We also invite the gift-giver to the Animal Safari, an exclusive, behind-the-scenes event for animal sponsors.

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Gift Sponsorships

Animal sponsorships make great gifts for people of all ages for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, anniversaries and so much more. If you sponsor an animal as a gift, benefits apply to the gift recipient. However, the gift is tax-deductible for the person that purchased the sponsorship. We also invite the gift-giver to the Animal Safari, an exclusive, behind-the-scenes event for animal sponsors.

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Sole Animal Sponsorships

Is there an animal that you or your organization or business would like to make a significant contribution to at the Milwaukee County Zoo? While most animals available for sponsorship through the Zoological Society’s Sponsor an Animal program have several sponsors, there are some animals that are available for sponsorship by just one person, group, or family.

$500 Level
Japanese Macaque, Negai
Ostrich, Gigi
Prehensile-tailed Porcupine, Seamus
Straw-colored Fruit Bat, Luna

$1,000 Level
Bonobo, Faith
Hoffman’s Two-toed Sloth, Nentas
Red River Hog, Mort
Red Ruffed Lemur, Sirius
Reticulated Giraffe, Marlee
Spider Monkey, Chimaltenango

$2,500 Level
Bonobo, Qasai
Cheetah, Mila
Colobus Monkey, Anna
Reticulated Giraffe, Maya

If you are interested in sole sponsorship of a wonderful animal at the Milwaukee County Zoo, please call 414-479-2941, for more information.

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School & Youth Groups

Our school & youth group animal sponsorships are a great way to connect children with wildlife! Schools and youth groups can sponsor an animal and receive great benefits:

$25 Donation Level

At the $25 donation level and up receive a fact sheet about the animal along with a picture. The group name will also be on display in the Peck Welcome Center for one year.

Sponsor an Animal for Your Group

$100 Donation Level

At $100 level or higher, we will arrange for a zookeeper to talk to your group during a field trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. (A minimum donation of $150 is required for school/youth groups with more than 130 students to receive the zookeeper presentation benefit.) This is a great opportunity to talk with someone who works directly with the animals and to ask questions. Keeper presentations are held from October through April and must be scheduled four to five weeks prior to your visit.

Sponsor an Animal as a Gift for a Group

If you are interested, please call (414) 258-2333, ext. 201, for more information.

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Matching Gifts Program

Double your gift by taking advantage of your employer’s charitable match program! Find out if your company has a matching program and request the appropriate form to go along with your donation or proof of it, to the Zoological Society. Companies may match your entire donation or the tax-deductible portion of your donation. Please check with your company.

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