Mayors from all around the country and the world toured the Woodland Park Zoo during their stay in Seattle. Kicking off the tour, Mike Waller, Director of the Zoo, and David L. Towne, President and CEO of the Woodland Park Zoological Society, talked "Zoo politics" with the mayors on issues such as the neighborhood grant project, its budget, and how the Zoo society is raising attendance. Running the Woodland Park Zoo is a large undertaking, with up to 400 staff at the zoo during peak season and 250 staff during non-peak season. Last year, approximately one million people attended the Zoo and 40,000 free passes were distributed in an effort to make attendance affordable to all.

The 92-acre, 100 year-old Zoo is just outside of Seattle. The most recent exhibits employ "landscape immersion and realism," where the Zoo creatures feel most at home and the visitors enjoy the beauty of the natural landscape. Frequent rain sustains the remarkable array of plant species used to recreate habitats of other parts of the world.

Lynwood, California Mayor Louis Byrd said, "The Komodo dragon exhibit was excellent and the dragons were more impressive in their unique habitat." Pocatello, ID Mayor Greg Anderson was impressed by how the zoo integrated more than one animal type into what appears to be a single exhibit, such as the grizzly bear and the mountain goats.                         

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