city officials passed a $300 million master plan that had been recently drafted to deal with the infrastructure problems and inadequate exhibits. The zoo nearly lost its accreditation in 1995 because of numerous health and safety violation; it rebounded under a new director. The number of species exhibited has been reduced from 400 in 1993 to around 280, coinciding with construction of larger naturalistic enclosures holding animals in bigger groups.

In 1998, the zoo opened Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, followed by Red Ape RainForest