Raccoon Zoo

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272 — The two lion statues facing each other, with the main entrance up ahead.

Raccoon Zoo was a tourist attraction in the Midwestern community of Raccoon City, not far from the center of the city.^[1]

History

The zoo was opened as early as 1978,^[2] with an annual parade involving elaborately-dressed elephants conducted until 1983.^[3] At Christmas time each year, they would hold a parade of trained animals. Oscar, who was the zoo's bull elephant and the star took lead of the parade while dressed in holiday garb; this had been discontinued by the '90s.^[3] The zoo's Deputy Chairman, Elliot Martin, had acquired an orchid exhibit for display at the botanical garden. Their transport in and out of the US being restricted by the Washington Convention, it was left unknown as to how Martin managed to acquire such an attraction.^[4]

"Max", the resident lion, was joined by three lionesses on loan to the zoo to assist in the lion-breeding program, with the three scheduled to be returned to their respective zoos in October.^[5]

During the Raccoon City Destruction Incident, evacuation helicopters passed over the zoo every few hours to help survivors in the area, choosing the zoo as an evacuation point due to its location being known throughout.

By the time the survivors entered the zoo, it had been emptied of all non-infected apart from two or three zoo employees. The infected animals had broken from their cages, with the zombie elephant Oscar leading the rampage in the zoo.