DEI, climate messaging continues at Smithsonian’s National Zoo despite Trump crackdown

A Fox News Digital review published Thursday found that the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute has spent years embedding diversity, equity and inclusion themes and climate messaging into its public-facing work, even as the Trump administration pushes to strip such messaging from the broader Smithsonian Institution.

The zoo, which draws roughly 2 million visitors annually and runs conservation research in more than 40 countries, has tied social-justice concepts directly to its environmental mission on its own website, according to the investigation. A 2021 article by Smithsonian researchers Autumn-Lynn Harrison and Mary Hagedorn argued that closing gaps in health and education access was itself a form of climate action, stating that “gender equity, civil liberties and justice are necessary ingredients for peace and prosperity” with “a direct impact on resource use and climate change.”

A search of “climate change” on the zoo’s website turns up nearly 400 results touching on everything from vernal pools and salamanders to wildfires and coral nurseries, Fox News Digital found.

DEI woven into strategic planning

The zoo’s diversity efforts were formalized well beyond a single blog post. The Smithsonian’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report for fiscal year 2023 devotes several pages to the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute specifically, describing diversity-focused internships and efforts to promote “inclusive language” within the zoo and aquarium profession. The broader report states that “diversity and inclusion are integral to all aspects of the Smithsonian Institution’s operations and key components of the Smithsonian Strategic Plan.”

Jason Hayes, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate and Environment, told Fox News Digital that the zoo’s core mission is being crowded out.

“In places like the National Zoo, especially a taxpayer-funded organization … zoos have a primary mission of conservation and species management, habitat management, that kind of thing, and when ideologies … start to take over and really rule the management of an organization like the zoo, then you start to have problems,” Mr. Hayes said.

Gabriella Hoffman, director of the Independent Women’s Forum’s Center for Energy and Conservation, offered a sharper assessment, telling Fox News Digital that “Americans visit zoos to learn about conservation efforts and admire animals, not to be shamed or feel guilt-ridden.”

Minority representation and LGBTQ programming

The zoo has also promoted racial-representation efforts among its own staff. A 2021 Smithsonian Magazine article written by National Zoo curator Craig Saffoe detailed his founding of the Association of Minority Zoo and Aquarium Professionals, a network aimed at increasing racial and ethnic representation across the industry.

“As the curator of large carnivores at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and a black man in the zoo field, I have long been keenly aware of the dearth of black and brown faces in my chosen field,” Mr. Saffoe wrote.

Separately, the zoo has hosted an annual International Family Equality Day since 2018, according to Fox News Digital, featuring animal encounters and rainbow-themed animal enrichment for LGBTQ families. Outside groups involved in the 2024 event, including the DC Center for the LGBTQ Community and the Smithsonian Pride Alliance, referred to the gathering informally as “Gay Day at the Zoo.”

Office of Diversity closed, but language lingers

The Smithsonian announced in January 2025 that it was closing its Office of Diversity in response to President Trump’s executive order describing federal DEI programs as “illegal and immoral,” while stating it would retain “efforts at visitor accessibility as it serves a critical function.”

But Fox News Digital reported that several zoo-affiliated staff and advisory board profiles still carried DEI-related language on the zoo’s website as of this week — a sign that older material has not been scrubbed, though it does not by itself establish which underlying programs remain active. The outlet cited the zoo’s page for advisory board member Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC, which describes his work as including “diversity, equity and inclusion” and notes he previously chaired a hospitality-industry group called Tourism Diversity Matters.

The zoo also remains an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, whose website states that DEI is “embedded in everything we do,” and belongs to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, whose gender policy requires a “gender-responsive” approach and calls for inclusive participation regardless of factors including race, sexual orientation and gender identity.

A National Zoo spokesperson did not directly address questions about current DEI implementation when contacted by Fox News Digital, saying instead: “The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is the Nation’s Zoo — a place where people can experience wildlife, learn about the natural world and see conservation in action. The zoo connects millions of people with wildlife while advancing a global mission to save species.”

Ms. Hoffman said the zoo risks alienating the public by continuing down this path.

“The Smithsonian Zoo shouldn’t alienate visitors with political lectures and empty platitudes,” she said. “The zoo should stick to showcasing pandas, not pandering to radicals.”