At its annual Thrive fundraiser yesterday, Woodland Park Zoo announced it has received the largest challenge gift in the zoo’s history—a $4 million matching challenge to help the zoo build new tiger and Asian bear exhibits and complete the zoo’s $80 million comprehensive fundraising campaign.

The gift came from an anonymous donor.

From the Press Release:

The new exhibit complex, known as the Asian Tropical Forest, is the centerpiece initiative of the zoo’s $80 million More Wonder More Wild comprehensive campaign. With this recent gift announcement, the zoo has successfully raised $59 million—or 74% of its campaign goal—to date through the campaign’s private phase. The challenge gift provides critical momentum for the community phase of More Wonder More Wild.

The community phase kicked off at Thrive to a record-breaking crowd of more than 600 civic, business, conservation and education leaders. More than $300,000 was raised today at Thrive marking the first gifts from the community to be matched by the challenge gift. The zoo hopes to complete the campaign in 2012 and open the first phase of the new exhibit in 2013.

“This tremendous challenge gift provides a catalyst for the community to join us at this crucial time for endangered wildlife,” said Dr. Deborah Jensen, Woodland Park Zoo President and CEO. “The Asian Tropical Forest exhibits will not only provide a new, naturalistic home for tigers and Asian bears at the zoo, but also will mobilize our visitors to join us and our field conservation partners to take action to save the wildlife and wild places of tropical Asia.”

The Asian Tropical Forest initiative is expected to cost $21 million and will replace the 60-year-old infrastructure that critically endangered tigers and Asian bears currently inhabit at the zoo. Currently in conceptual design phase, the new exhibit complex will transform an outdated area of the zoo into a dynamic, naturalistic destination connecting more than 1 million zoo visitors each year to the diverse animals of tropical Asia and the work the zoo and its partners do to protect them.

Modeled on the theme “Sharing the Forest: People are the Conservation Solution,” Asian Tropical Forest will empower and inspire visitors with up-close animal encounters, hands-on learning and links to meaningful conservation actions visitors can take to build a better future for wildlife. Using sustainable design, the exhibits will provide tigers, Asian bears and other species representing the biodiversity of the region with a naturalistic, enriching environment that evokes the lush forests of tropical Asia and encourages natural behaviors such as stalking prey, foraging for food and caring for young.

Asian Tropical Forest represents one of the eight initiatives that make up More Wonder More Wild, the zoo’s most ambitious, forward-looking comprehensive campaign to date. The eight programmatic and capital initiatives of the campaign integrate visitor experiences, naturalistic exhibits, animal care, field conservation, educational opportunities, environmental sustainability and technical innovation.

“Ensuring a sustainable future for wildlife and people is at the core of Woodland Park Zoo’s mission, and every day the zoo immerses the community in the wonders of the natural world and inspires them to protect it,” said Stuart Williams, Woodland Park Zoo Board Chair. “We’re looking forward to finding exciting ways to engage the families of our region in completing our fundraising goal to help us create more wonder for our community and more wild for our world.”

To better reflect the zoo’s wide-reaching role in conservation and education, a new Woodland Park Zoo logo and brand identity emphasizing inspirational, up close nature experiences were unveiled alongside the campaign at Thrive. The new brand identity is the product of a mission-focused, strategic design process with the Seattle-based brand-design firm, Phinney Bischoff Design House, which donated a portion of the work.

Learn more about the More Wonder More Wild comprehensive campaign, the eight initiatives and how to get involved at www.morewonder.org.

For more information about Woodland Park Zoo, visit www.zoo.org or call 206.548.2500.