Zoos run on records, tickets, and rosters. When those live in spreadsheets, paper files, and three different tools, keepers re-enter the same note, the gate cannot see the day, and the accreditation file has to be assembled by hand. We build the systems that hold it together.
Animal records, ticketing, memberships, and accreditation evidence built for how a zoo actually runs
ZIMS, the record system zoos already use, scoped as the highest-risk connection, not an afterthought
Education programs, volunteers, and maintenance on the same day as the animals and the visitors
A multi-carrier shipping platform connecting 70+ countries
The problem
Animal records spread across paper files, spreadsheets, and a record system, so every transfer or vet decision starts with a search?
Tickets, memberships, and programs selling through different tools, so nobody knows how full the day really is?
Short answer
RaftLabs builds zoo software for zoos, wildlife parks, and aquariums: animal records that travel with each animal, ticketing and memberships, education programs and events, volunteer and maintenance scheduling, and the records an accreditation inspector asks for. We build it to sit alongside ZIMS, the record system zoos use, not to replace it. Scope is priced in writing before work starts.
Who this is for
Zoo directors
The animal record, the visitor day, and the accreditation file in one system instead of workarounds.
Registrars
Transactions, permits, and inventories that answer the inspector from the record itself.
Operations managers
Ticketing, memberships, programs, and rosters that all see the same day.
Aquariums and wildlife parks
The same record shape, with tanks, grounds, and vehicle routes fitted in.
01 Diagnosis
Your animal records live in four places
Zoo software should hold one animal record that every role can see. Instead, the history lives in one file, the care notes on a keeper's sheet, the medical record in the vet's system, and the transfer papers in an inbox. Every handoff re-keys data that already exists somewhere, and two people looking at the same animal often see two different answers. The cost is not just wasted hours. It is the vet decision made on an old note, the transfer agreed without the permits, and the accreditation question nobody can answer from the record. One animal record, with history, care, permits, and transfers attached, removes the re-keying and the drift.
The gate cannot see how full the day is
Tickets, memberships, and group bookings sell through different tools, and none of them sees the others. The front gate sells the same morning the school group booked by phone, and the programs team plans a keeper talk for a day that is already full. When your team cannot answer "how busy is today" without three phone calls, the visitor experience is decided by luck. Admissions that write to the same day, with capacity visible before the morning fills, turn the gate from a queue into a plan you can look at.
Accreditation evidence is assembled by hand
An accreditation application asks for evidence: a records management system, transaction records, permit records, animal inventories, and complete medical records. Assembling that from paper files, spreadsheets, and three different tools takes weeks, and the gaps are found during the site visit, when they are hardest to fix. A system that holds each of those records in one place and exports them in the shape the application asks for moves the work from before the visit, where it belongs, instead of during it.
Off-the-shelf products do not cover the zoo's day
Maintained ticketing products assume a standard venue. Maintained record systems assume the record is the whole job. A real zoo is neither: the animal record, the visitor day, the education programs, the volunteers, and the maintenance list all share the same day, and no single product holds them together. So your team works around the software, and the record still drifts. Custom software fits the zoo instead of the other way around, and the build pays back once the workarounds cost more than owning the system.
02 What we ship
The operational core for a zoo: accession, daily care, medical notes, breeding and studbook records, permits, and transfers. One record per animal or group, with history that travels when the animal moves. Built to sit alongside ZIMS, the record system zoos already use, not to replace it.
Online tickets, memberships, group bookings, and the gate on one day. Capacity visible before the morning fills, members counted separately from day visitors, and renewals that arrive as reminders instead of lost visitors.
School visits, keeper talks, behind-the-scenes tours, and seasonal events on one calendar, with the staff, the rooms, and the animals each program needs. Bookings, waivers, and payments stay on the same record as the program.
Keepers, volunteers, educators, and maintenance each see their own day: feeding and care tasks, program slots, enclosure checks, and repairs. A job that needs an enclosure empty is scheduled around the animals, not against them.
The records an inspector asks for, held in one place and exported in the shape the application asks for: transactions, permits, inventories, and medical records. The registrar answers from the record itself during a site visit.
The day beyond the gate: wayfinding, feeding times, food and retail, and the membership desk, all reading the same day. The visitor sees one zoo; the team sees one record of it.
Integrations
The record system, the gate, and accounting connect into one workflow, because integrations drive most of the scope.
03 Buy, build, or wait
The zoo software question is really about whether your day fits the products or has outgrown them.
Buy or rent
ZIMS for the animal record, while it stays the record
The shared record lives there. Keep it there, and build around it.
Maintained ticketing and membership products, while the day fits their shape
Faster to start and fine when standard tickets, memberships, and programs match how you run the day.
Build custom
When the products force workarounds for your day
Your team works around the software instead of the software fitting the zoo.
When the record, the gate, and the accreditation file need one system
Three tools that do not agree cost more in drift and re-keying than one owned system costs to run.
When you need workflows no product supports
Program rosters, volunteer scheduling, and maintenance that follow the animals, not a template.
Bottom line
Stay on the maintained products while your operation fits their ticket, membership, and record model. Build when the workarounds or the drift cost more than owning the system.
04 How we work
Two to three weeks mapping how your zoo actually runs: the collection, the visitor day, the programs, and every system the software has to talk to. That means ZIMS, ticketing, memberships, and your accounting. This step surfaces the integration requirements that cause rework when they are discovered mid-build.
We design the data model around animals, visitors, programs, and records, the objects your zoo actually works in, and the integration layer for ZIMS and ticketing. The ZIMS connection is prototyped in the first sprint because it is the most common cause of a timeline slip on a zoo build.
You review working software every two weeks, not wireframes. Each sprint ships a usable slice: the animal record, then ticketing, then programs, then the accreditation file. Scope is fixed and priced before the build, so the number does not move unless you change what you are building.
We test every integration against real record and ticketing data, not just a sandbox, because record systems and ticketing feeds fail in ways a sandbox never shows. You get a documented, tested system, your data in your control, and a handover so your team or ours can run it.
Trusted by
05 Track record
07 Client voices
Three-year average engagement. Founders and operators describing the work in their own words. No marketing varnish.
08 Why us
09 Questions
Both, but the zoo work is scoped to how a zoo actually operates: animal records and transfers, ticketing and memberships, education programs and events, volunteer and maintenance scheduling, and the accreditation file. General ticketing and booking work lives under our booking practice, and we cross-link the two when a project spans both.
No. ZIMS, from Species360, is the animal record-keeping system endorsed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and it is where the shared animal record lives. We build the software around it: ticketing, memberships, programs, volunteers, and maintenance. Where the two need to agree, for example on which animals are on site, the custom system reads from the record instead of keeping a second copy.
Yes. Accreditation asks for evidence: a records management system, transaction records for acquisitions and dispositions, permit records, animal inventories, and complete medical records. The system holds each of those in one place and exports them in the shape the application asks for, so the registrar can answer from the record itself during a site visit.
When an animal moves to another institution, all of its data, including historical data from previous holders, must travel with it so the receiving zoo can give the best care. The transfer record holds the terms, the permits, the medical history, and the transport papers on the same record as the animal, and the inventory updates on both sides when the move is complete.
Stay on the maintained products when your operation fits their ticket, membership, and record model and the fees stay reasonable. Build custom when the products force workarounds for how you run the day, when your programs and rosters do not fit their shape, or when you need the record, the gate, and the accreditation file on one system.
Zoo management software development
Animal records, ticketing, memberships, and accreditation evidence for zoos and wildlife parks
Ticketing (industry hub)
Ticketing and admissions software for venues and attractions
Booking system development
Custom booking platforms for operators who have outgrown off-the-shelf tools
Event management software development
Programs, events, and group bookings on one calendar
Tour operator management
Bookings, groups, and guides for tour and activity operators
Custom software development
Custom software for workflows standard tools cannot handle
Tell us how your zoo runs, which systems you use, and where the day is leaking time or evidence. We'll tell you how we'd approach it.
