How Many North American Zoos Have Contact Yards?

Zoobie1963

Zoobie1963

New Member
Hello,

Members, please answer this or direct me to online documentation to answer this question.

While Petting Zoos/Contact Yards in Farm areas of accredited Zoos, was once common, I was.once told there were only a couple left. Curious to current numbers.

Thank you
Zoobie1963
 
I'm not sure who told you there were "only a couple left". I've seen more zoos with some sort of contact yard/petting area than zoos that didn't have one of these exhibits. Most commonly, they contain goats and/or sheep, but I've also seen ones with Llama, alpaca, fallow deer, and various other species.
 
Zoobie1963 said:
Hello,

Members, please answer this or direct me to online documentation to answer this question.

While Petting Zoos/Contact Yards in Farm areas of accredited Zoos, was once common, I was.once told there were only a couple left. Curious to current numbers.

Thank you
Zoobie1963
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where you heard that from, as it's definitely not true! The number of AZA zoos without petting zoo areas is probably very short (ignoring covid closures). Even the aquariums usually have some sort of touch tank with starfish and urchins, rays, small shark species, and/or jellyfish. Of the 61 zoos I've visited in the last couple of years, there's only 4 that I don't recall having some sort of contact thing, 3 of which are AZA - Dallas World Aquarium, ZooAmerica, and Rosamond Gifford.
 
TinoPup said:
I'm not sure where you heard that from, as it's definitely not true! The number of AZA zoos without petting zoo areas is probably very short (ignoring covid closures). Even the aquariums usually have some sort of touch tank with starfish and urchins, rays, small shark species, and/or jellyfish. Of the 61 zoos I've visited in the last couple of years, there's only 4 that I don't recall having some sort of contact thing, 3 of which are AZA - Dallas World Aquarium, ZooAmerica, and Rosamond Gifford.
Click to expand...

Just remembered Rosamond does have one!
 
With no disrespect intended to the many volunteers and docents that are on here, I have heard volunteers say some pretty ridiculous things, both at zoos where I work and at zoos where I visit. The topics have ranged from animal "facts" ("Walruses and belugas are major predators of African penguins"), historical misinformation ("This zoo used to have polar bears!" (They did not. Ever)), and misidentifications of animals (especially birds in free-flight aviaries). So I can totally imagine a volunteer saying that. Again, no disrespect to them - I used to be one.
 
Out of the 51 zoos I have visited that are still open, 28 have some sort of animal contact area and the other 24 do not.
 
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