San Francisco Zoo lifts shelter-in-place after swatting threat

Families at the San Francisco Zoo spent Monday afternoon inside secure buildings after an anonymous caller triggered a swatting scare that forced police to sweep the grounds and briefly lock down one of the city’s most visited attractions. The shelter-in-place was lifted by just before 4:30 p.m., ending nearly two hours of disruption that began with a threat that zoo officials said was not credible.

The call came in around 2:50 p.m., and San Francisco police said officers responded to a report of a person with a gun. As officers searched the area, they did not find a subject. KRON4 reported that about 400 to 500 guests were temporarily sheltered in secure buildings while the police sweep was underway, turning an ordinary zoo visit into an emergency response scene in the middle of San Francisco County.

Zoo officials said they were working with the San Francisco Police Department to determine whether the call was legitimate. They said they were not aware of any credible threat, but were taking precautions to protect guests, staff and animals. For the people inside the zoo, that meant waiting through a tense afternoon while staff followed safety protocols designed for exactly this kind of false alarm.

The incident fit a pattern that has been hitting zoos across the country in recent weeks. Coverage from the Associated Press said hoax calls involving bomb threats and fake active-shooter claims have prompted evacuations and closures at several zoos around the United States. Security-industry reporting has also said the FBI has logged thousands of swatting incidents since 2023, underscoring how a made-up emergency can still consume police resources, disrupt operations and rattle families who thought they were spending a normal day out in San Francisco.

For major San Francisco attractions, the zoo lockdown raised a basic public-safety question: how quickly can staff communicate with guests, and how well are they prepared when a hoax forces a real emergency posture? In this case, the response kept visitors inside secure spaces until police cleared the site, but it also showed how little it takes for a false report to create citywide concern, operational costs and a sudden test of emergency readiness.