We have been many times....true it is not your "typical" Zoo (like San Deigo/L.A.) but worth a visit!!

I visited the zoo's website and it looked just amazing! I drove 20 mins only to discover it wasnt worth the time or money. Zoo?? It should be a chicken farm! I read on their site it was "shaded." Well the only shaddy parts of the zoo were the trees covering the animals, and even THEY looked miserable! It was the tiniest zoo I have ever seen. The entire time my kids spent dodging bird poop and crying because they were scared to death the chickens and pidgeons would peck at them. Honestly though, what was the deal with that?? I could've sworn I saw 2000 birds (at least!) running free in such a small gated area. It took us less than ten mins to get through the whole thing and we tried very hard to take our time even though the sun was beating on us. After all this, I still cant believe how they can CHARGE people an admission!

We almost did not visit this zoo b/c of the reviews posted here, but I am very glad that we did. We had time to kill after looking at apts., so we got here about an hour before closing which was at 5:00. This zoo is extremely small, I mean you park on the side of the road with no lot, and I wasn't expecting much. But my boyfriend and I, who love animals, really enjoyed this zoo. Yes, it is tiny and there aren't many animals. But by closing I still wished we had another hour or two to spend there. When you buy the admission, make sure to purchase the bird seed. There are dozens and dozens of free roaming birds, such as very ornate hens, roosters, chickens, peacocks, and other birds I did not recognize. They were very funny following us for the seed, and many had little babbies who were very cute and we gave lots of seed to them!
When we visited there was only 1 keeper working with her daughter, and maybe 4 other patrons there. I got a pamphlet on volunteering there b/c I liked it so much and felt like they might need the help. The animals they had were wonderful and most seemed very friendly and to really like the people. I saw on the previous posts that you could put your hands in the cages, but when we went most were double gated and the animals further away so you couldn't reach them. If people do put their hands in the cages, I feel worse for the animals being poked at all day by strangers than for the people who could get bit. I'm sure zookeepers have more work to do than to babysit stupid people or children, there are signs not to put your fingers in the cages. The apes do reach out for you and for the birdseed, but they are primates and that's pretty much what primates do.
You might think that the animals are unhappy or sad in their confines. But we witnesses something amazing. At closing the keeper came to the area we were in, by the big cats and numerous talking birds. All at once the lions jumped up and went over to her to be petted, and all the birds started talking! It was ear splitting, all their chatting and "hello's" and "ring!" and laughter! Even the ostriches came up to her. The animals seemed well cared for and really loved.
So if you're looking for the San Diego zoo, you won't find it here. But if you really like animals and enjoy visiting and watching them, you just may like this zoo as we did!

I like this zoo, and they need more visitors because they really, really need the money.

They're sometimes in trouble for not taking care of the good animals. A lot of times I'll go back to see one of my favorite animals (like the turkey vulture or badger) and they'll tell me, "Oh he died."

Still, the animals are adorable, the barbary apes are hilarious. One of the took the cup out of my hand with the food. I walked by later and he had broken the plastic cup up and was picking his teeth with it. One of the baby apes bit my brother really hard, and jumped up and down with his hands over his mouth like he was laughing. It was pretty adorable. And the llama spit food all over my other bratty little brother, so I can't complain.

nice kids zoo

This was the worst zoo I have ever been to. Even if it was free I would not recomend it. Very dirty. chickens and pigeons all over the place, not many animals. you could walk right up to the bird cages and put your fingers in, and of course there are signs saying "we bite" but as most people know you cant watch a child 100% of the time, I wonder how many people gotten bit by them?? I also saw a couple other cages like that too but cant remember which ones. Just a horrible place overall!!!! Thumbs down!!!!