Santa Barbara Zoo is grieving its fourth animal death in a single month, and community members want the zoo to take a hard look at what's happening before another animal is lost.

Last Friday, the zoo made the difficult call to euthanize Poppy, an 8-year-old capybara, after specialists found an inoperable mass in her throat that made it hard for her to breathe or eat. "Knowing there was no treatment that could give Poppy a meaningful chance of recovery, we made the heartbreaking decision to humanely euthanize her rather than allow her to suffer," said Dr. Julie Barnes, the zoo's vice president of animal care and health.

Poppy's death came less than two weeks after Ruby, a 2-year-old red panda, died of Addison's disease, a rare disorder that left her body unable to produce enough of certain essential hormones. Ruby's death followed the loss of both of her newborn cubs in July, in what was supposed to be the zoo's first red panda birth in more than 30 years. Now the zoo's only other capybara, 4-year-old Antonio, is undergoing chemotherapy for a rare blood cancer.

The zoo says it has no evidence tying these losses together. Still, four animal deaths in one month at a single zoo is a heavy toll, and the community that loves this zoo deserves more than reassurance — they deserve transparency.

This petition calls on the Santa Barbara Zoo's Board of Directors, together with the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, which accredits the zoo, to commission an independent review of its veterinary care, staffing levels, and animal health monitoring, and to share the results publicly. The zoo's roughly 380 remaining animals deserve every protection available.

Sign the petition to demand an independent safety review at Santa Barbara Zoo — before the community mourns a fifth loss.