SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park reopens to the public Friday after several days of closures due to the recent wildfires.

Despite the fact that more than 600 acres of the Wild Animal Park's 1,800-acre property succumbed to flames, the park suffered minimal losses.

Of the more than 3,500 animals that reside at the park, unfortunately two animals, an endangered bird and wild equine species, were lost due to complications from the fire.

An evacuated condor breeding facility and storage units containing Festival of Lights event materials were also destroyed by flames. A majority of the burned areas, however, were open buffer zone regions and not exhibit or public access areas of the park.

Some of the animals housed in perimeter regions of the park, such as the critically endangered California condors, had been relocated during the fires to safe areas.

However, most of the wildlife remained inside their large field enclosures, which are designed to be fire-safe due to the nutrient dense, eco-irrigated landscape that functions as a natural safety blanket during fires.

For more information about the Wild Animal Park, visit Wild Animal Park or call 760-747-8702.

The 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park (more than half of which has been set aside as protected native species habitat) is operated by the not-for-profit Zoological Society of San Diego.

The Zoological Society, dedicated to the conservation of endangered species and their habitats, engages in conservation and research work around the globe.

The Zoological Society also manages the 100-acre San Diego Zoo and the center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES). The important conservation and science work of these entities is supported in part by the Foundation for the Zoological Society of San Diego.