Luther Beecher, a local businessman, financed the purchase of the circus’s animals and erected a building for their display which he called the Detroit Zoological Garden.

During the opening ceremony, acting Mayor John C. Nagel was to speak; he arrived late, and (unknowingly) parked his car behind the bear exhibits.

Upon exiting his vehicle, a polar bear, kept in one of the original “barrier-less” enclosures, attempted to lunge at the mayor, nearly crossing the protective moat around its exhibit.

One press account stated, "he enjoys every minute of the act...He counts his fingers, dresses, laces his shoes, straps up his overalls; pours tea and drinks it; eats with a spoon, dances and waves farewell to his admirers.

From the 1950s through the early 1970s, local weatherman Sonny Eliot hosted a program called At The Zoo, shown on Saturdays on Detroit television station WDIV.

[17][18] Other new buildings include the Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex (2004) and the Ford Education Center (2005), which offers school and youth group programs as well as having a theater and exhibit space.

The elephants, Wanda and Winky, were relocated to the Performing Animal Welfare Society's (PAWS) sanctuary in San Andreas, California.

[23] On February 18, 2006, the Detroit City Council voted to shut down the Zoo as part of budget cuts, being unable to reach an agreement with the Society to take over the park and a legislative grant having expired that day.

An uproar ensued and the Council, on March 1, 2006, voted to transfer operations to the Society with a promised $4 million grant from the Michigan Legislature.

The city retained ownership of the assets, including the Zoo in Royal Oak and the Belle Isle Nature Center in Detroit.

On August 5, 2008, voters in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties overwhelmingly passed a zoo tax that provides sustainable funding to supplement earned revenue and philanthropic support.

The Penguinarium was temporarily renamed the "Winguinarium" in 2009 while the Detroit Red Wings played the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals.

In 2011, the lions' enclosure was remodeled, providing animals more than double the room, new landscaping, and a glass wall to allow closer encounters with visitors.

In 2013, the Zoo celebrated its single largest donation ever ($10 million) by announcing plans for the Polk Penguin Conservation Center (PPCC), which opened in 2016.

The National Amphibian Conservation Center is a $7 million, 12,000-square-foot facility situated on a two-acre Michigan wetland area and pond called "Amphibiville".

[30] Mimicking a Michigan ecosystem, the 1.7-acre pond and wetlands area and accompanying 7,200-square-foot boardwalk is home to native fish, frogs, turtles and birds as well as trumpeter swans.

Due to a $102,350 grant from NOAA, the Wetlands are also used as professional development and outdoor classroom for teachers and students underrepresented in science fields.

[31] The Cotton Family Wolf Wilderness is a $1.4 million two-acre sanctuary that features native meadows and trees, a flowing stream and pond, dens, and elevated rock outcroppings, for two gray wolves.

The Wildlife Interpretive Gallery is home to the Butterfly Garden, Matilda Wilson Free-Flight Aviary, Science On a Sphere, as well as the Society's permanent fine art collection.

In collaboration with the DNR and USFWS, the Society continues to release Zoo-reared federally endangered Karner blue butterflies in their natural habitats in Michigan.

[43] The Society provides educational experiences to nearly 70,000 teachers and students annually through camps, curriculum-based field trips, family and youth programs and professional development opportunities.

The academy uses a variety of teaching strategies – from traditional instruction to storytelling, role-playing, theater, and virtual technology – to educate audiences about the need to treat other living creatures with empathy, respect and gentleness.