Fox News has discovered that the Smithsonian National Zoo has become just as bizarrely “woke” and weird as the rest of the institution.
The Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, as it’s called, is obsessed with DEI and climate change, according to the Fox News investigation. The proof can be found on the zoo’s own website.
“Gender equity, civil liberties and justice are necessary ingredients for peace and prosperity, but they also have a direct impact on resource use and climate change,” a ridiculous 2021 article on the website reads.
Written by leftist seabird ecologist Autumn-Lynn Harrison and coral biologist Mary Hagedorn, the article continues by arguing that “one direct way we can bolster climate action is by addressing inequities in health and education across the globe.”
When Fox News searched the website for all instances of the term “climate change,” it discovered damn near 400 results.
What does “gender equity, civil liberties and justice” have to do with resource use and climate change?
Not even the Smithsonian zoo animals were spared the DEI crap. pic.twitter.com/gvVLzVvcdy
— Kentucky Girl (@Kentuckygirl1) August 27, 2026
The zoo is also obsessed with DEI, which is short for diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s a twisted political ideology that centers on rectifying the sins of past discrimination against certain minorities (mainly blacks) by applying modern discrimination against certain groups (mainly whites).
“Diversity and inclusion are integral to all aspects of the Smithsonian Institution’s operations and key components of the Smithsonian Strategic Plan,” a Smithsonian report cited by Fox News reads.
The report also outlined several prominent DEI programs that are being pursued at the Smithsonian National Zoo, including “diversity-focused internships, LGBTQ family programming, … and efforts to promote inclusive language in the zoo and aquarium profession.”
Another 2021 magazine article cited by Fox News touted the zoo’s decision to launch the absurd Association of Minority Zoo and Aquarium Professionals for the purpose of increasing “racial and ethnic minority representation” in zoos.
“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,” the silly article read.
The zoo is also obsessed with reaching out to gay people. According to Fox News, it uses its annual International Family Equality Day “to conduct outreach to the LGBTQ community.”
“Zoo staff have [even] created rainbow-themed animal enrichment and treats, including colorful ice cakes, for animals throughout the park,” the network noted.
During the 2024 International Family Equality Day, the zoo took things further by having a “Gay Day at the Zoo” gathering that “included a performance by the LGBTQ-and-allied GenOUT Youth Chorus, a community picnic with local LGBTQ organizations and music that highlighted queer identity and inclusion.”
Jason Hayes of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate and Environment doesn’t care for any of this crap.
“In places like the National Zoo, especially a taxpayer-funded organization like the National Zoo, zoos have a primary mission of conservation and species management, habitat management, that kind of thing,” he told Fox News.
“When ideologies, or at least science that is in question, start to take over and really rule the management of an organization like the zoo, then you start to have problems,” he added.
FIRST ON FOX: The Smithsonian’s National Zoo has been pushing DEI and climate change messaging on millions of taxpayer-funded visitors, a Fox News Digital review found — hosting LGBTQ programming outside groups called “Gay Day at the Zoo,” launching diversity-focused internships,… pic.twitter.com/HRjRdUkcwB
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) August 27, 2026
The good news is that in January of 2025, the Smithsonian announced the elimination of the Office of Diversity to comply with the Trump administration’s directive against DEI.
The problem is that “several work profiles listed on the zoo’s website as of this week still contain language suggesting DEI is part of their daily activities,” according to Fox News.
In addition, the zoo’s Great Plains Science Program website “currently lists ‘Inclusion’ among its core values, pledging to create pathways for people from underrepresented groups to participate in its work and cultivate a new generation of conservationists.”
