Donate Goods for Animals

The Oakland Zoo benefits from a diverse array of donated goods, food and vehicles from individuals, community groups and companies. Your donations help keep our animal commissary stocked with tasty food and fun "toys" for our animals. Using these toys, or enrichment, contributes to a healthy animal by keeping their minds active and engaged.

Our Partners

Produce and Baked Goods

We work with many partners, including grocery stores, wholesale butchers, and produce vendors. If you would like to set up a recurring donation, please email our Commissary Department.

CARS

Oakland Zoo also partners with Charitable Adult Rides & Services (CARS) to process vehicle donations that generate ongoing funding to support our work. Learn more »

We strive to keep our animals happy and engaged.

Enrichment Items

Animal Fun

Support the Zoo and our conservation partners by purchasing items from our Amazon Wish Lists or our Wildlife Toy Box Wish List. We engage all our animals by providing customized treats and toys, or enrichment, to keep their minds and bodies active. We also communicate regularly with our conservation partners around the globe to understand and support their evolving needs. Each purchase you make fuels our animals’ wellbeing and conservation impact.

Did you know that bison love baguettes?

Produce, Browse, and Bakery Items

Eating for Enrichment

Produce and Bakery Goods

Produce and bakery goods are used to feed our animals as well as for certain enrichment activities. We will take any produce items that are relatively fresh, except for onions (green onions and leeks are okay), limes, lemons, and herbs. Remember that animals don't care about bruises! Produce doesn't have to look good for them to eat it. We'll also take bread and bakery items, dried fruit, nuts and cereals. Please, no rotten or moldy foods.

For more information on produce and bakery donations please contact the Commissary Department at commissary@oaklandzoo.org.

Donating Halloween Pumpkins

We would love to accept your pumpkin donations! We do not pick up pumpkins -- please deliver them directly to the zoo. We will accept the pumpkins seven days a week from 10am-3pm. When you arrive, a security guard will direct you where to go. Here are guidelines for what we accept:

-Uncarved

-Unpainted/marked on

-No rotten spots or cracks (these pumpkins spoil really fast)

-Any size is ok, from mini to large

-Any species is ok, including gourds

If you have a large quantity of pumpkins either in a trailer/truck or in large boxes, please call 510-632-9525 X250 in advance to see if the donation can be accepted.

We do have a limit of how many pumpkins we accept, so we will only be accepting pumpkins for a limited time starting November 1st. Once we hit our capacity we will no longer accept pumpkins. Unless you have a very specific question that is not answered on our website, there is no need to call ahead. Public safety will be at the main gate when you first drive in to direct you where to go.

Tree Branches (Browse)

Tree branches (browse) are also used as food and/or toys (enrichment) by many of our animals. At this time we are not picking up from residential households, but we are accepting deliveries of edible branches. We do not accept individual Christmas Trees, as we work with Christmas Tree lots directly to receive their leftovers.

Please consider these tree companies for your tree removal needs, as they have been working with the zoo for over ten years delivering tree branches for the animals directly to the zoo! Since it is time consuming for our keepers to pick the branches up, we much prefer to work with companies who are willing and able to deliver.

Garcia Professional Tree Service: (510) 915-0201

Buena Vista Tree Service: (925) 449-1203

Luis’s Tree Service: (510) 575-5667

Duda Tree Service: (510) 531-5261

Miguel Terra Petra Gardens: (510) 205-9647

Green Terra Tree Service: (510) 436-5403

Torogoz Landscaping LLC: (510) 575-8694

Click here for a complete list of Frequently Asked Questions about browse donations.