It was a night to remember at the Los Angeles Zoo on a brilliant, warm evening in June. The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) raised $1,209,011 (breaking last year’s record) at the 38th Annual Beastly Ball, as nearly 1,000 guests attended the event. Guests happily wandered through the zoo, being met by animal handlers with an assortment of fantastic critters, from an African anteater to beautiful boa constrictors.

Chaired by Los Angeles Zoo Commissioner Kimberly Marteau Emerson, the Ball celebrated the California Condor Recovery Project and the Zoo’s extraordinary role in saving the California condor from the brink of extinction. Long-time GLAZA Trustee Betty White hosted the evening’s program, and KNBC-TV weathercaster Fritz Coleman was celebrity auctioneer.

Delicious fare and libations were provided by 17 popular Los Angeles restaurants, including the Parkway Grill, Yamashiro, El Cholo Restaurant, Pink’s Famous Hot Dogs, Celestino Ristorante, Maison Akira, Typhoon, Il Fornaio Cucina Italiana, Green Street Restaurant, Bistro 45, Tam O’Shanter Inn, Fabiolus Café, La Poubelle, Malo, the Smoke House Restaurant, Villa Sorriso, and Bar Celona. The Beastly Ball’s Silent Auction included hundreds of remarkable items, and the Live Auction offered one-of-a-kind opportunities such as courtside Lakers’ tickets, a vacation at a luxury villa in Jamaica, and a helicopter flight with the LAPD, courtesy of Chief William Bratton.

But the most delicious thing about the Beastly Ball was the celebration of the California condor. The almost-extinct species was once as low as 22 birds in existence in 1982, but has now climbed to more than 300, with half of those birds living in the wild. Since the 1980’s, the Los Angeles Zoo has been a partner in the recovery program, which focuses on the breeding and reintroduction of California condors to the wild. To date, a total of 126 California condor chicks have hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo. And that is a great reason to celebrate, isn’t it?