Sandy

Part of the Denver Zoo Family

Denver Zoo is just a happy, fun, safe place for me. My mother grew up as a military brat, spending one year in Denver in the 60s when her dad was stationed at Lowry Air Force Base, and she always told us stories of how small the Zoo was back then with just one entrance (now closed, but we always came in through it when we were kids) and the old wire monkey cages. I feel like we’ve been part of the Zoo family for generations.

We wandered into the old pachyderm house many years ago, and discovered that the hippo pool was mostly drained. There was a sea lion lying at the bottom with a newborn baby next to her. I’m pretty sure that baby sea lion grew up to be Sammy. We’ve followed him and the other sea lions for years, feeling like we were part of the family!