{"id":240627,"date":"2026-03-28T09:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T09:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240627\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T09:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T09:09:17","slug":"animals-are-streaming-into-400-childrens-hospitals-from-san-diego-zoos-dedicated-24-hour-channel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240627\/","title":{"rendered":"Animals are Streaming into 400 Children’s Hospitals From San Diego Zoo\u2019s Dedicated 24-hour Channel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Credit San Diego Zoo, supplied<\/p>\n

For most kids, you can\u2019t beat a trip to the zoo.<\/p>\n

And for those unfortunate kids whose immune systems are too weak to endure such an excursion, they now have the chance to experience it from their hospital beds.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s thanks to a clever partnership involving the San Diego Zoo\u2019s 24\/7 streaming service, one that brings the sights and sounds, if not the smells, of the zoo directly to them.<\/p>\n

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance\u2019s Wildlife Explorers Channel<\/a> streams around-the-clock animal encounters and educational programming in hospitals, bringing the joy of the zoo into patient rooms.<\/p>\n

What started locally at Rady Children\u2019s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego has grown into a global network now reaching more than 400 hospitals and medical facilities across 48 states and 12 countries besides, with an estimated 25 million viewers annually.<\/p>\n

The channel features wildlife filming from across the globe, but also close encounters and presentations with the zoo\u2019s animals, 24\/7 wildlife cameras in the zoo enclosures, and other tailormade educational programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our patients have weakened immune systems, so they\u2019re unable to go to places like the zoo and the channel has brought the zoo to them,\u201d said Margaret Fitzgerald, Manager of the Hematology and Oncology Unit at Rady Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

MAKING KIDS SMILE: Firefighters Rappel Down the Windows of Children\u2019s Cancer Hospital in Unforgettable Christmas Surprise<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has had a huge impact, on our patients. I do recall one time there was a little girl who was about 3 and her mom had to go to work, and she was sad because her mom had to go, but then we turned on the zoo channel and she just lit up!\u201d<\/p>\n

The program has also expanded beyond hospitals to senior centers and clinics, and in 2023, tablets preloaded with the channel\u2019s content were delivered to a children\u2019s hospital and school in Ukraine, further expanding access globally.<\/p>\n

SHARE This Really Great Way To Brighten A Sick Child\u2019s Afternoon\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit San Diego Zoo, supplied For most kids, you can\u2019t beat a trip to the zoo. And for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2113,2305,8089,1281,4821,74,76,75,4509,3343],"class_list":["post-240627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-animals","tag-children","tag-heartwarming","tag-hospitals","tag-medicine","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-television","tag-zoos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}