Hi Dave,
:welcomean to ZA! First to answer your question, I believe that you do need to put that file in a different location than the animals. You need to save it in your saved games folder.
C:\Documents and Settings\YourProfileName\Application Data\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon 2\Default Profile\Saved
(obviously, replace the YourProfileName, with your name)
Before you leave to do that though, why not go over to our
Introductions thread and say Hi! There are always cookies on the hall table, help yourself.