Name the Detroit Zoo’s New Lions

ROYAL OAK, Mich., June 11, 2009 – The Detroit Zoological Society’s annual Sunset at the Zoo fundraiser on Friday, June 19, will offer “wild” auction prizes that cannot be found anywhere else.  Three such prizes are opportunities to name the three lions recently rescued by the Detroit Zoo from a Kansas junkyard.

The live auction includes other “zoo-nique” items such as a gourmet dinner for 12 with the giraffes, polar bears or great apes, a polar bear and seal feeding experience for six, a behind-the-scenes tour of the rhino habitat for four, breakfast for 10 with the dinosaurs at Dinosauria and a fall twilight hayride at the Zoo for 12 with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. 

Other exciting live auction items include a Top Gun fighter jet experience, a Sonoma winery excursion, a New York City culinary experience, a Detroit Tigers suite for 18 and a party for 30 aboard a private yacht.

The year’s wildest party kicks off at 7 p.m. and features a strolling supper offering tastes of signature dishes from 40 of the area’s finest restaurants, zoo-themed martinis, live entertainment by Skyline & the Backstreet Horns, dancing, live and silent auctions, and access to the Zoo’s award-winning animal habitats as the sun goes down. 

The 21-and-over event is held rain or shine, and the Zoo closes at 2 p.m. that day in preparation for the festivities.  Attire for the evening is “elegant safari chic”. 

Tickets for Sunset at the Zoo range from $150 to $600 per person.  A VIP reception will be held at the Zoo on Friday, June 19, 5:30 to 7 p.m., for those purchasing $600 benefactor tickets and $300 patron tickets.  Tickets can be ordered by phone at (248) 541-5717 ext. 3750 or online at www.detroitzoo.org.

Sunset at the Zoo is supported by Strategic Staffing Solutions, Caesars Windsor, Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, Fox 2, Hour Detroit, WJR News Radio 760 and Dining in the Wild. 

The Detroit Zoological Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Zoo.  Situated on 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, the Detroit Zoo is located at the intersection of Ten Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, just off I-696, in Royal Oak.  The Detroit Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April through October (open at 9 a.m. May 1 through Labor Day) – with extended hours until 8 p.m. Wednesdays during July and August – and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. November through March.  Admission is $11 for adults 15 to 61, $9 for senior citizens 62 and older, and $7 for children ages 2 to 14; children under 2 are free.  For more information, call (248) 541-5717 or visit www.detroitzoo.org.  The Belle Isle Nature Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. year-round and provides educational programming with interpretive staff support from the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.  Admission is free.  For more information, call (313) 852-4056. 
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