Hello! My name is Kaitlyn Rhine and I am 17 years old. I am a teen volunteer for the San Antonio Zoo and am fundraising for their emergency fund! 

San Antonio Zoo is home to thousands of animals from fish to mammals to birds to reptiles and everything in between.  Due to COVID-19 the zoo is closed.  As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the zoo relies 100% on donations, ticket sales, guest visits and grants to operate the zoo and continue our mission of securing a future for wildlife. This includes exceptional animal care as well as education programming and research and conservation locally and globally. 

With the zoo being closed and no guest income coming in, the zoo needs donations more than ever to continue to care for the beloved animals.

Let me tell you about my zoo story. The first zoo experience I had was when I was two and was at none other than the San Antonio Zoo! This is where my passion for animals started. Through mission work and a great opportunity to work at a vet clinic, I have found my calling which is veterinary medicine! Specifically, zoo medicine! The San Antonio Zoo has helped solidify this by letting me join the zoo team as a teen volunteer, helping to spread the message of conservation. During these uncertain times, there is one thing I know for sure...I miss being at the zoo! 

As a senior in high school, a lot of things have been either canceled or postponed making what I was hoping to be an amazing end to high school be a very uncertain one. In the time where the future has many uncertainties, this is the one thing I can be certain about...if we as a community come together and donate, the money needed to care for these animals will be definite. Not only that but I, along with everyone who donates, can say they were an ally to the San Antonio zoo when we needed it the most.

Please join me and donate to San Antonio Zoo Emergency Fund to assist in the care of our animals and team members during this temporary closure. Your support is more critical now than it has been in the zoo’s entire 106-year history.  

I have been very fortunate to keep my job as a technician at my vet clinic during these hard times. With that said, I would like to offer to match every dollar up to $500. 

 Together we can keep the animals and their care staff thriving. They need us like never before!