On the Eden Wildlife Zoo in northern Arizona, the calm of a routine intern orientation day is disrupted by the arrival of hopeful college students who join the security team for a tour of the grounds. Aaron Groben as AJ leads the new group through the exhibit areas, while Marcus Anderson as Rex coordinates with the others, keeping a steady eye on the bustling activity around the animals. The visit is meant to be a learning experience, a chance to see how the zoo operates and to imagine a future among the creatures that call this place home.
In the clinic, a troubling crisis unfolds. Monkeys are treated for a mysterious disease, and the veterinarians work quickly to intervene. The medical team, including Noa Pharaoh as Dr. Gordon, relies on a life-saving stimulant—intracardiac epinephrine—to restore a monkey that suffered a cardiac arrest. What begins as a tense medical procedure rapidly spirals out of control as the contagious pathogen spreads among the monkeys in the room, transforming them into zombie-like predators with a single focus: attack anything human.
The danger becomes personal when Johnny, a vigilant security officer played by Cedric Jonathan as Johnny, decides to check on the veterinarians himself. He disappears into the clinic, and when he does not return, the security team—joined by Gage, Andrew Asper as Gage—investigates. They discover Johnny and one of the veterinarians dead and Gordon barely alive, the alarm now blasting through the facility. The infected monkeys unleash a brutal assault, killing two guards, while the remaining defender fights to keep the others safe.
With the alarm echoing across the zoo, Ellen Rogers, portrayed by Kim Nielsen as Dr. Ellen Rogers, orders a lockdown to contain the outbreak. The disease spreads with alarming speed, jumping from primates to other animals and spreading through the complex. A group of wild hogs becomes infected and charges toward three students who are still trying to understand what is happening. Lizzy, Ione Butler as Lizzy, along with Gage and Rex, arrive in time to witness the chaotic assault as the infected creatures push the group toward a desperate escape.
The situation deteriorates as infected giraffes threaten the remaining students, including Amber, Brianna Joy Chomer as Amber, who becomes separated from the others and ends up driving a jeep after a tense encounter. Rex sustains a serious injury to his leg while trying to protect the group, and Lizzy and Gage tend to him before continuing their fight for survival. Amber manages to steal the jeep, forcing the survivors to improvise a new route of escape using a herd of non-infected elephants.
The elephants, however, become spooked by a swarm of infected lemurs in the trees above, tossing Lizzy, Rex, and Gage from their mounts. Rex’s leg is crushed in the fall, and Daxton, Kaiwi Lyman as Daxton, along with intern AJ, Jay Kwon as Intern, fend off the lemurs as the group retreats to the gorilla lab for safety. Inside, they confront the tragic fate of Kifo, the endangered gorilla. When Daxton checks on the creature, he becomes the first victim of Kifo, who then overruns the lab. Rex fights the great ape in a struggle that ends with Kifo crushing Rex’s head, a brutal reminder of how quickly things have spiraled.
At the gates, law enforcement arrives only to be overwhelmed by a pride of infected lions. Amber reaches the front gate, pleading with Ellen to open it, but she is mauled by an infected lion before the group can escape. Thea, Ellen’s daughter, LaLa Nestor as Thea, fights for her life as an infected koala swings into the scene; she kills it with a baseball bat, discovering that the virus may have a link to these bizarre mammalian transformations. Ellen’s investigation leads her to a critical clue: the disease appears connected to an enzyme found in the cerebral cortex of koalas, a revelation that opens a new line of inquiry about how this outbreak spread.
As fears escalate, Ellen urges Chelsea, the birdkeeper, to release the birds to slow the outbreak, but the plan proves ineffective. Lizzy, Gage, and AJ escape alongside a dying Amber, only to be ambushed by infected lions outside. The group fights their way back, and a crash destroys their jeep. In a last-ditch effort to survive, they attempt to reach a watch tower via an unfinished zipline, but AJ slips and falls to his death. The remaining trio—Lizzy, Gage, and Ellen—reunite with Thea, and they theorize that the birds may be key to this mystery. They decide to set the aviary aflame using gas cans to prevent the spread, while Ellen’s truck provides the final push to trigger a catastrophic explosion.
In a climactic confrontation, Kifo reappears and pursues the survivors to the gate. Ellen seems to shoot him, providing a brief moment of relief as a helicopter arrives to extract the group, lifting them away from the chaos. But the danger is not over: as they are carried to safety, Kifo’s eyes flutter open, a chilling reminder that the threat has not been extinguished. The rescue offers a fragile glimmer of hope, even as the true extent of the outbreak remains a looming question.
Throughout this harrowing ordeal, the survivors’ resilience and quick thinking—whether it’s using the elephants for transport, battling through the aviary blaze, or leveraging the zoo’s diverse wildlife in a deadly struggle—showcase the unpredictable chaos that can erupt when nature goes wrong. The story weaves together moments of fear, teamwork, and survival, painting a vivid portrait of a day when a zoo’s quiet routines devolved into a life-or-death fight against a mystery pathogen that spreads through the very animals that populate the grounds.
