Bomb threat:

The Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park is forced to evacuate on Saturday.

The Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park was evacuated Saturday and parts of Loop 303 shut down following a bomb threat.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and state Department of Public Safety officials spent most of Saturday afternoon and evening combing the area for anything suspicious, but reported finding nothing.

The Sheriff’s Office received a call at about 4 p.m. from an individual saying there was a bomb at the zoo, according to Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez. Similar calls were also made to other local police departments and some television stations, Enriquez said. He said detectives had not yet determined if the calls were a prank.

“We take this very seriously,” Enriquez said at a news conference with media at about 7 p.m. Saturday. “We evacuated the zoo in its entirety. We then rolled K9 units and bomb units. With the help of DPS ... we’re clearing the entire zoo, looking for anything out of place, suspicious. Bomb techs have done a complete sweep of the area. We have not found anything as of yet.”

He said significant resources were used to search the large area. Officials also shut down the nearby Loop 303 exits at Northern Avenue, and briefly closed the exits at Glendale Avenue during the search. The Northern Avenue exits were expected to be reopened later Saturday night.

Enriquez said detectives were tracking the phone calls, as well as statements made via social media. “It sounds like this person keeps calling everybody that picks up a phone,” he said. “He told people he was unhappy with the captivity of animals at the zoo.”

Surprise resident Janet Bohler, 51, said she was with her family at the aquarium connected to Dillon’s KC BBQ restaurant when Sheriff’s Office deputies rushed in with rifles asking everyone to leave the building. She said they told everyone it was not a drill.

Bohler said this took place at about 4:15 p.m. and it took 15 to 20 minutes until they were allowed to get to their car, which was outside the parking lot near the reported bomb-threat area.

“It was just freaking scary,” she said. “I give them credit, the entire staff and officers were very calm.”

Wildlife World Zoo officials tweeted that the zoo would be open as normal on Sunday.