Since this is a new zoo added to the site, I figured I would do a little bit of a write up about this facility. I did add 56 photos from this small roadside zoo into the gallery.
Pete's Safari Gallery
This roadside zoo is just located outside of Grand Island, Nebraska and probably about 5 minutes from where my parents live so I figured I ultimately would pay this facility a visit. It is very popular with the locals, but for the wrong reasons in my opinion.
A little bit about the history of Grand Island with zoos before I get too far along. I have a bunch of relatives in the City of Grand Island and consider it a second home as I have spent a lot of time there. As a young kid in the late 80s and 90s, my family would visit the Grand Island Heritage Zoo almost every day of the summer. The Heritage Zoo was located in Stolley Park and was not a big zoo by any means, but it was a great place to visit.
Species this zoo had that I can remember off the top of my head (been trying to track down an old map for decades, seems to be scrubbed off the internet): Capybara, Bald Eagle, Burmese Python, Binturong, Black Bear, Tiger, Ostrich, Gray Wolf, NA River Otter, Prairie Dog, and lots of various herps.
The Heritage Zoo was partly run by the City of Grand Island and that is ultimately what led to the downfall of the zoo. Around 2000, the zoo and the City started to not see eye to eye on updating the zoo. A master plan was created that was going to focus on island species, relating to the Grand Island name of the city. However the City got into multiple political quagmires in regards to public opinion about the zoo with many differing opinions and ultimately cut their funding of the facility and around the mid-2000s the zoo ceased to exist, and has remained a fairly contentious subject to the residents of Grand Island. Some people have tried to wipe any mention of it from existence, while many others have longed for a replacement of some kind.
The only remnants of the Heritage Zoo that still exists today is the train that makes a loop around what was the zoo's ground, a former herp building, and the Sweet Shopp that was the zoo's entrance and gift shop. Railroad Towne, once a cool part of the zoo that had some museum style herp exhibits and Old West styled buildings, was bulldozed and now is a massive playground called Kids' Kingdom.
The longing for a replacement to the zoo is where Pete's Safari comes in.
I believe construction of this zoo on the outskirts of Grand Island began in 2018 and finally opened in 2021 after three years of building the groundwork. This is a family owned operation, no City involvement whatsoever. So as one would expect, a startup zoo has very basic of amenities and exhibits as can be seen in the photos I posted. The zoo is only open Friday to Sunday at the moment.
Most of the exhibits for smaller mammals consist of concrete floors, some various branches, play houses, and dog houses inside them, howevery they all have shade which helps for brutally hot days that Nebraska is prone to (was 97 degrees the day I visited). The larger animals all had open yards with at least a shelter in them. Smaller birds had small shaded pens with a chicken coop for shelter and some of the larger birds had a wading pool in their yards.
The species list for this zoo is as follows:
From the list above, not a bad collection per se, there are some interesting species here, but considering the fact that the closest zoo to Grand Island, a population of approx. 55k, is located in Lincoln, this is the only place to see exotic animals within an hour of travel.
Now this being a roadside zoo, the biggest selling point this zoo offers is a chance to feed the animals. And not just some of them, ALL OF THEM. You can buy a cup of fruit in the gift shop for $2, you can get a punch card after buying 8, you get one free. Theoretically, this makes it seem like pretty much all carnivores are off the table being their diet that people can feed to the inhabitants of the zoo. The ability to feed all of these animals is probably my biggest issue with the zoo. It is very apparent that the animals are in the habit of being fed when they see people and rush to the end of the pipe that the food comes from when visitors drop the food into. Each exhibit has a PVC pipe that either drops into the exhibit, or into a spoon on the end of the pipe that you reach out so the animal. In enclosures that had more than one animal, there was competition to who got the spoils. It was a little depressing to see this behavior ingrained into these animals, but also they had no shortage of willing feeders at the zoo. The one thing this behavior did lend itself to was taking photos of each species as they huddled up near the fence to collect their "prize".
All in all, the owners are always adding to their collection and expanding their little zoo, but at some point I hope they start to upgrade the overall quality of their exhibits. This is a popular attraction for the area as it is filling a void that was left 15 years prior. While I understand the necessity for a place like this to "engage" their visitors by letting them feed and interact with their animals, it is a huge change of pace for a person like my wife and I who have visited around 30 AZA accredited facilities.
Pete's Safari Gallery
This roadside zoo is just located outside of Grand Island, Nebraska and probably about 5 minutes from where my parents live so I figured I ultimately would pay this facility a visit. It is very popular with the locals, but for the wrong reasons in my opinion.
A little bit about the history of Grand Island with zoos before I get too far along. I have a bunch of relatives in the City of Grand Island and consider it a second home as I have spent a lot of time there. As a young kid in the late 80s and 90s, my family would visit the Grand Island Heritage Zoo almost every day of the summer. The Heritage Zoo was located in Stolley Park and was not a big zoo by any means, but it was a great place to visit.
Species this zoo had that I can remember off the top of my head (been trying to track down an old map for decades, seems to be scrubbed off the internet): Capybara, Bald Eagle, Burmese Python, Binturong, Black Bear, Tiger, Ostrich, Gray Wolf, NA River Otter, Prairie Dog, and lots of various herps.
The Heritage Zoo was partly run by the City of Grand Island and that is ultimately what led to the downfall of the zoo. Around 2000, the zoo and the City started to not see eye to eye on updating the zoo. A master plan was created that was going to focus on island species, relating to the Grand Island name of the city. However the City got into multiple political quagmires in regards to public opinion about the zoo with many differing opinions and ultimately cut their funding of the facility and around the mid-2000s the zoo ceased to exist, and has remained a fairly contentious subject to the residents of Grand Island. Some people have tried to wipe any mention of it from existence, while many others have longed for a replacement of some kind.
The only remnants of the Heritage Zoo that still exists today is the train that makes a loop around what was the zoo's ground, a former herp building, and the Sweet Shopp that was the zoo's entrance and gift shop. Railroad Towne, once a cool part of the zoo that had some museum style herp exhibits and Old West styled buildings, was bulldozed and now is a massive playground called Kids' Kingdom.
The longing for a replacement to the zoo is where Pete's Safari comes in.
I believe construction of this zoo on the outskirts of Grand Island began in 2018 and finally opened in 2021 after three years of building the groundwork. This is a family owned operation, no City involvement whatsoever. So as one would expect, a startup zoo has very basic of amenities and exhibits as can be seen in the photos I posted. The zoo is only open Friday to Sunday at the moment.
Most of the exhibits for smaller mammals consist of concrete floors, some various branches, play houses, and dog houses inside them, howevery they all have shade which helps for brutally hot days that Nebraska is prone to (was 97 degrees the day I visited). The larger animals all had open yards with at least a shelter in them. Smaller birds had small shaded pens with a chicken coop for shelter and some of the larger birds had a wading pool in their yards.
The species list for this zoo is as follows:
- Eclectus Parrot
- African Grey Parrot
- Patagonian Cavy
- North American Raccoon
- Woodchuck
- Black Cap Capuchin
- Black Handed Spider Monkey
- Ring Tail Coati
- African Spurred Tortoise
- Domestic Goat
- Domestic Pony
- Emu
- Red Kangaroo
- Greater Rhea
- Plains Zebra
- Alpaca
- Aoudad
- Dromedary Camel
- "Bronze" Peacock
- "Silver Pied" Peacock
- Yellow Golden Pheasant
- Red Golden Pheasant
- Cape Barren Goose
- White Silkie Chicken
- Blue Silkie Chicken
- Grey Crowned Crane
- Trumpeter Swan
- American White Pelican
- Domestic Goose
- Miniature Pony
- Patas Monkey
- Ring Tailed Lemur
- Red Necked Wallaby
- Arctic Fox
- African Crested Porcupine
- Two Toed Sloth** (Not seen, only available in a paid encounter)
From the list above, not a bad collection per se, there are some interesting species here, but considering the fact that the closest zoo to Grand Island, a population of approx. 55k, is located in Lincoln, this is the only place to see exotic animals within an hour of travel.
Now this being a roadside zoo, the biggest selling point this zoo offers is a chance to feed the animals. And not just some of them, ALL OF THEM. You can buy a cup of fruit in the gift shop for $2, you can get a punch card after buying 8, you get one free. Theoretically, this makes it seem like pretty much all carnivores are off the table being their diet that people can feed to the inhabitants of the zoo. The ability to feed all of these animals is probably my biggest issue with the zoo. It is very apparent that the animals are in the habit of being fed when they see people and rush to the end of the pipe that the food comes from when visitors drop the food into. Each exhibit has a PVC pipe that either drops into the exhibit, or into a spoon on the end of the pipe that you reach out so the animal. In enclosures that had more than one animal, there was competition to who got the spoils. It was a little depressing to see this behavior ingrained into these animals, but also they had no shortage of willing feeders at the zoo. The one thing this behavior did lend itself to was taking photos of each species as they huddled up near the fence to collect their "prize".
All in all, the owners are always adding to their collection and expanding their little zoo, but at some point I hope they start to upgrade the overall quality of their exhibits. This is a popular attraction for the area as it is filling a void that was left 15 years prior. While I understand the necessity for a place like this to "engage" their visitors by letting them feed and interact with their animals, it is a huge change of pace for a person like my wife and I who have visited around 30 AZA accredited facilities.
