@DavidBrown Sylmar, California. I posted a short review of the facility on the "Snowleopard's 2017 Road Trip" thread. The zoo itself is very tiny with only a short loop but some of the species they had shocked me...like Lowland Pacas! Anyway, the farm next door had a giraffe!
I drove about 45 minutes north of Los Angeles to the city of Sylmar, home to Wildlife Learning Center. This small zoo is so tiny that patrons have to park on the street of the surrounding neighbourhood! There is a large, air-conditioned trailer that serves as the admission booth and puny gift shop, and then another trailer has 33 terrariums filled with the usual suspects of Bearded Dragons, Leopard Geckos and a squished Reticulated Python in a small exhibit. The zoo really promotes “interactive animal experiences” for groups of 1-4 people, which means $25 to meet an armadillo, $40 to go in with a North American Porcupine (watch those quills!), $125 to go in the Eurasian Lynx exhibit and petting a Fennec Fox will set you back $40 for your group of zoo nerd friends.
Aside from the 33 terrariums in the pseudo “Reptile House”, there is a short loop with many chain-link enclosures that offer up minimal accommodation. The entire Species List (20 species): Eurasian Lynx, Bobcat, Serval, Red Fox, Grey Fox, Arctic Fox, Fennec Fox, North American Porcupine, Lowland Paca, Two-Toed Sloth, Kinkajou, Black-Tailed Prairie Dog, Ring-Tailed Lemur, Common Squirrel Monkey, Bald Eagle, Tawny Owl, Western Screech Owl, Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, American Alligator and African Spurred Tortoise.
Spending 45 minutes at this small zoo was plenty of time, and just as I was scratching my head and pondering how on earth the facility obtained species such as Arctic Fox, Tawny Owl and Lowland Paca, a giraffe walked past the back of some of the enclosures. What the heck? As it turns out, the zoo does not own the giraffe but there is also a zebra, a couple of ostriches and several horses on the neighbouring farm. You guessed it, there is a possibility to also meet the giraffe for the cool sum of $60.
