I suspect these are from people who don't really understand how star ratings work.
Dumbest One star zoo reviews
- Thread starter OkapiFan
- Start date
Or perhaps the same users, let's be honest here...Of course a genuine problem for enclosure designers, but does feel a tad ridiculous when one sees both criticisms applied to the same exhibit by different users.
How strange, I don’t know of any dog-friendly zoos in Australia. The idea of taking a dog to the zoo had never even entered my head before I read that review.
Considering I’m Australian, I’m pretty aware of that fact. I just mean, it’s not something we do here in Australia, so it was strange to me that someone would give a zoo a 1 star review because of that.
Indeed; we're actually selling T-shirts highlighting that... ^^
Austria
But maybe those reviewers were from Austria and Germany. Or have been to some of the zoos there. Or, which is the most likely option, maybe they were just idiots who take their lap dogs everywhere...
@akasha The ever so exotic practice of taking dogs to the zoo has been discussed before:
Snowleopard's 2019 Road Trip: Netherlands, Belgium, France & Germany
Snowleopard's 2019 Road Trip: Netherlands, Belgium, France & Germany
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IGN: 7.5 too much water.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I saw these "reviews" on trip advisor of Jersey zoo a while back 
:
"This is not my idea of a Zoo. A couple of Gorillas and Oranutangs and that's it. The rest is limited to lots of small animals, snakes, frogs etc in glass cages. Very expensive for what it is and certainly not value for money."
"Cost about £15.00 EACH for entry after travel costs. Very little in the way of wildlife - 1 bear, 3 gorillas, and 4 or 5 orangutangs. Plenty of frogs, snakes and other small creatures. Extremely poor value for money, and an overstatement to call it a “zoo”."
"Pretty rubbish as a zoo though - unless you love monkeys, in which case it''s a pretty rubbish zoo with monkeys."
"Heard that Jersey zoo was the best in Europe. Best at what? What a rip off. It's okay if you want to see birds and reptiles. Tortisouises had obviously all wandered off along with the otters. We spent our day wandering from empty enclosure to empty enclosure with the occasional monkey here and there."
"What a waste of a day. We saw a few gorillas and three orang-utans and a few birds. I know it is supposed to be a conservation area but the only thing they seem to be conserving is the greenery!"
It strikes me that they totally missed the point of what is being done there and why there are so many frogs, small animals and monkeys kept ( have to say I love the term "tortisouises" though, lol ! 
)...
:"This is not my idea of a Zoo. A couple of Gorillas and Oranutangs and that's it. The rest is limited to lots of small animals, snakes, frogs etc in glass cages. Very expensive for what it is and certainly not value for money."
"Cost about £15.00 EACH for entry after travel costs. Very little in the way of wildlife - 1 bear, 3 gorillas, and 4 or 5 orangutangs. Plenty of frogs, snakes and other small creatures. Extremely poor value for money, and an overstatement to call it a “zoo”."
"Pretty rubbish as a zoo though - unless you love monkeys, in which case it''s a pretty rubbish zoo with monkeys."
"Heard that Jersey zoo was the best in Europe. Best at what? What a rip off. It's okay if you want to see birds and reptiles. Tortisouises had obviously all wandered off along with the otters. We spent our day wandering from empty enclosure to empty enclosure with the occasional monkey here and there."
"What a waste of a day. We saw a few gorillas and three orang-utans and a few birds. I know it is supposed to be a conservation area but the only thing they seem to be conserving is the greenery!"
It strikes me that they totally missed the point of what is being done there and why there are so many frogs, small animals and monkeys kept
( have to say I love the term "tortisouises" though, lol ! )...
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Most of the ones I'm finding about the North Carolina Zoo seem to be related to tickets needing to be reserved in advance due to the pandemic but here's a few interesting ones.
"All the animals be hiding and the walkin is foreverrrrrrr"
"For as large as this place is, there should've been more animal exhibits. And more animals, in place to be seen. First zoo I have ever heard of with no tigers at all! Total bummer for that. The animals was so still that looked totally like a statue in that place, unbelievable. I expected so much more for the size of this park. Least to say, I won't be returning."
"Nothing exciting at all. I been yo better Zoo' with a lot more animals"
"How much is the rope climbing thing? I dont know. Can anyone answer????UwU"
"To whom it may concern
My friend has recently visited the zoo and noticed that there were no koalas. I feel as if the majestic koala would make a great addition to the zoo. Please consider."
"Wild animals belong to the wild not to cages for uneducated people to stare at. Did you pay the ticket to see the zoo? well, you are responsible for the giraffe's death and for the suffering of ALL the animals in the north carolina zoo"
"Don’t support zoos people. Unless the Animal is hurt and NEEDS to live in a zoo it’s ok. These Animals should be free and not caged!!"
"Blame this city for the death of that 22 year old girl"
Referring to this incident that happened at the Conservator's Center in Burlington, not the NC Zoo.
"All the animals be hiding and the walkin is foreverrrrrrr"
"For as large as this place is, there should've been more animal exhibits. And more animals, in place to be seen. First zoo I have ever heard of with no tigers at all! Total bummer for that. The animals was so still that looked totally like a statue in that place, unbelievable. I expected so much more for the size of this park. Least to say, I won't be returning."
"Nothing exciting at all. I been yo better Zoo' with a lot more animals"
"How much is the rope climbing thing? I dont know. Can anyone answer????UwU"
"To whom it may concern
My friend has recently visited the zoo and noticed that there were no koalas. I feel as if the majestic koala would make a great addition to the zoo. Please consider."
"Wild animals belong to the wild not to cages for uneducated people to stare at. Did you pay the ticket to see the zoo? well, you are responsible for the giraffe's death and for the suffering of ALL the animals in the north carolina zoo"
"Don’t support zoos people. Unless the Animal is hurt and NEEDS to live in a zoo it’s ok. These Animals should be free and not caged!!"
"Blame this city for the death of that 22 year old girl"
Referring to this incident that happened at the Conservator's Center in Burlington, not the NC Zoo.
I've seen plenty of attributes used to describe koalas. Until now, I'd have never expected "majestic" to be one of them.
ChIkEn NuGrEt
Well-Known Member
My exact thoughts. Lol
I was at the Detroit Zoo just last week and the tiger exhibit does in fact have tigers. They have three--an older female and two younger males. They're not all on exhibit at the same time as the
female, beyond breeding age, doesn't do too well with the younger males. They also have lions and bears.
The deaccessioning of a number of species is a legitimate complaint.
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Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Yes, because such a statement of unquestionable logic really applies to the situation of so many of the species apparently kept by the NC zoo.
The desert pupfish which has no wild to go back to, the Addra gazelle which is extinct in the wild and where reintroduction efforts are extremely risky (though they would probably just counter with "well put some back in the wild then") and the Panamanian golden frog which is only extant due to the efforts of captive breeding programmes by zoos.
TheChukaulorian
Well-Known Member
Buin Zoo has these animal-related one-star comments (translated from spanish):
Apparently it's the job of parking lot checkers to tell you animals may not show themselves on bad weather days.
"As it was raining when we arrived, most of the animals were sheltered from the weather and couldn't be seen (lion, giraffe, jaguar, etc.), that is, the most interesting ones; this could have been informed in the entrance of the parking lot so one could decide then whether to pay or not"
"Zoo with a variety of animals but these almost don't have any space and you can see many of them on the verge of madness"
"I wish they'd improve the space for multiple animals so they could feel better and show more energy to the public"
This person wrote a testament of apparent bad husbandry practices, if she only knew something about the animals in question:
She also criticized the zoo because the bear went around in circles as a sign of "stress". I can't remember at the moment but I'm pretty sure the bear at Buin was rescued either from a circus or a roadside zoo, explaining his stereotypic behaviors.
"the camels had bald patches on their fur" LOL!!!
This one wasn't dumb per se but I found it....curious
"the only upside was that there were meerkats, which I found innovative"
(yes, Chilean zoos also apply for the meerkat overrepresentation meme)
Apparently it's the job of parking lot checkers to tell you animals may not show themselves on bad weather days.
"As it was raining when we arrived, most of the animals were sheltered from the weather and couldn't be seen (lion, giraffe, jaguar, etc.), that is, the most interesting ones; this could have been informed in the entrance of the parking lot so one could decide then whether to pay or not"
"Zoo with a variety of animals but these almost don't have any space and you can see many of them on the verge of madness"
"I wish they'd improve the space for multiple animals so they could feel better and show more energy to the public"
This person wrote a testament of apparent bad husbandry practices, if she only knew something about the animals in question:
- "the crocodile was locked up in a 2/2 exhibit, with dirty and little water and also being indoors instead of outdoor" The supposed crocodile is either a broad-snouted or smooth fronted caiman iirc (both the Spectacled caiman and Nile crocodile have outdoor exhibits). Sure, let's keep the smallish caiman outdoors to freeze to death.
- "hippos in a small pond of water that covered not even a third of their bodies" Of course, since they are pygmy hippos. Also she must have missed the underwater viewing area.
- "there was also a shark, in a circular fountain (I guess she meant tank) where it only goes around and around, there are no algae...nothing...too sad" The shark in question is a nurse shark.
She also criticized the zoo because the bear went around in circles as a sign of "stress". I can't remember at the moment but I'm pretty sure the bear at Buin was rescued either from a circus or a roadside zoo, explaining his stereotypic behaviors.
"the camels had bald patches on their fur" LOL!!!
This one wasn't dumb per se but I found it....curious
"the only upside was that there were meerkats, which I found innovative"
(yes, Chilean zoos also apply for the meerkat overrepresentation meme)
ChIkEn NuGrEt
Well-Known Member
Attachments
I had suppressed this memory... that was a meme for ages a few years ago haha.
OkapiFan
Well-Known Member
This one for the Greensboro Science Center is two stars but still funny.
"Came from out of town to visit this place and was highly disappointed. Even the animals didn't seem to care. Literally, about 95% of the animals had their backs turned or were tucked off in the corner somewhere. Is like they were on strike and I honestly felt bad for them. The flamingos were beautful though. And the peacock's display was short-lived but beautiful. The whole experience was blah. Maybe this place is best suited for children under 8. Having been to a few other aquariums and enjoyed them, my children were bored and wanted to leave."
"Came from out of town to visit this place and was highly disappointed. Even the animals didn't seem to care. Literally, about 95% of the animals had their backs turned or were tucked off in the corner somewhere. Is like they were on strike and I honestly felt bad for them. The flamingos were beautful though. And the peacock's display was short-lived but beautiful. The whole experience was blah. Maybe this place is best suited for children under 8. Having been to a few other aquariums and enjoyed them, my children were bored and wanted to leave."
What made me chuckle, is thinking about the fact these people have took the effort to type the reviews only for it to be copied and pasted and posted on ZooChat, with the ZooChatters just laughing at the stupidity and arrogance of these unhappy visitors