Upon entering the Facility, we are greeted by a group of friendly staff members the price to get in was fairly cheap (I believe it was $12 or $13 for adults) considering the number and variety of animals. We hit the beautiful paths, the with two visually appealing areas for the Lemurs and then various waterfowl, the Waterfowl habitat was contained land and a lovely small stream of water, a visual masterpiece and if I was a fan of Waterfowl I would love this type of habitat for them. However the habitat across the way didn't meet up to my standards as well. The lemur habitat contained a few of my noted human errors. For example the fencing was maybe two or three feet high, the inside has a ring of water, making the Lemurs have a small island with a few houses. I notice the only thing stopping them from leaping the fence is ring of water, the could possibly swim and escape, of course this is just worst case scenario. I did see that someone left the cleaning instruments in the lemur cage as well as a weed eater they were on the other side of the water, but it doesn't set a good visual or a safety illusion.
We move onto the rest of the "petting zoo" area which contains mostly barnyard animals, Ducks, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens and the like, upon arriving at the Pig's pin if you will, my sister found out that the pig is not as friendly as the other animals, as he bit her, a small wound but it was bad enough for her to be bleeding because of it. As it was Easter they had the Bunnies and the chicks together (I don't know if they do that all the time or if it was only easter) this isn't a problem for me, they were all hanging out and resting, being picked up on occasion, of course only a few of the chicks would come near you to let you pick them up. In the small building across the way we see they have more chicks and a few bunnies too, and I noticed... a guinea pig which was pretty enjoyable.
We saw the Giraffes that everyone seems to love so much, but they seem a tad over rated, despite upon looking into reviews on the way up there we found that one of them can use a computer, not to say they weren't enjoyable but they weren't a huge hit with me having seen giraffes since I was a child at Zoo World here in Panama City, of course this is coming from the point of view of a 19 year old
Having been worn out on the Giraffes if I recall, we turned a corner to see a short series of cages with birds, one such bird looked like Elvis Presley and I believe this very same bird continually jumped from it's branch to the back corner of his room which he bounced off of to land back onto his branch, this small feat is rather enjoyable to watch once or twice which is about how much the bird will do it it seems.
We then moved onto the area with the Clouded Leopard and various other cats I've had experiences with such as Panthers and Tigers, as I was "trained" by Jim Broaddus I clearly don't know too much about the true parts of the law, I noticed the the Small Clouded Leopard's cage only had one door, which I imagine is for the food to be slid into, this may not be much of an issue with smaller cats, but he could get out fairly easily if this is the only door, as seen with the tigers and other larger cats a two door cage is wiser, but as I stated before I don't know if it's against the law. I did find the cat to be adorable and he seemed healthy and happy, like most of the animals there.
I did notice how beautiful the Tigers coats looked shiny and Healthy, as well as the Panthers or Mountain Lions (I don't recall which it was after about a month) they had also looked beautiful in their cage had natural shade provided by vines and plants, which did make them hard to get a picture of since they enjoyed huddling in the back where it was fairly dark.
I found multiple other Species such as Bears, Alligators, and one attractive human female who was fixing a cage of a large bird I believe. I can't recall entirely but I do know I was happy to see that when a problem was found it wasn't put off for various reasons.
One of the issues I did find was in the otter habitat where they needed a ladder to climb out of the water instead of some other more safe ways of exiting. The water also seems to be algae filled, but this of course would be more natural but it does detract from the visual appeal. I do find the ladder mostly inexcusable but the algae is more okay.
The Multiple Peacocks you see running around are beautiful as the male of the species is the more visually appealing it was easy to tell which was which. as seen in the second picture the Peacock, when it's plumage is down it looks similar to a prom dress in a way. I believe I saw three males and at the end of the Train ride, one female, or Peahen. Unfortunately my cousin and sister thought it would be a smart idea to corner and chase one of them around, which I told them not to, but they took it upon themselves to not listen, and they were yelled at by an employee, whom my mother yelled back at both of whom were being completely retarded, and the Employee ends up giving a vague threat to my mother stating "You're lucky I'm on the clock" She was right for defending the animals, but threatening guests with bodily harm is not wise. Especially when they are allowed to run free.
A lot of the barriers are easily jumped over by not only the animals, but also by people which despite them needing to be mature enough to not do so, there are always going to be idiots refusing to be mature.
We of course opted for the train ride, a maybe 30 or so minute ride around the back portion of the property containing Wildebeests, African Wild Dogs, and many others. It was a nice ride, that was professional, it was filled with information, of course it was slightly uncomfortable with the wooden seats, but all together it was a fun ride.
Unfortunately, this zoo didn't have many animals that appealed to me such as smaller Felines and Foxes (I don't know if they had any foxes, it's hard to recall)
Upon leaving we exit through the gift shop, as you typically do in places like this, filled with toys, tee shirts and other gifts. Of course it was a lovely visit aside from a few bumps in the road, but I do believe that this is a good visit if you are in the area. But with gas hovering at 4.00 per gallon don't make this your only stop for a vacation.
As always have a nice day,
Stephen Swift
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