Put Me In The Zoo Review: Micke Grove Zoo Review
Date of visit: June 3, 2017
Does this zoo satisfy the reviewer’s Inner-3-Year-Old by featuring his lifelong favorite animals, giraffes and elephants?
Nope. At only 5 acres this entire zoo would probably fit within many modern elephant exhibits.
The Micke Grove Zoo is a small zoo within Micke Grove Park in Lodi, a small town in the Central Valley of California. The zoo was built in 1957. Originally it was a quadrangle of cages surrounding a sea lion pool, a concrete monkey island, and a large circular aviary. The cages were full of large animals like lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, polar bears, chimpanzees, wolves, and black bears. Over the decades the zoo has seriously downscaled the size of the species in its collection to match the small size of the zoo. The last polar bear died in the early 2000s. The only remaining big cat species is snow leopard.
Does this zoo have any animals that would excite a zoo aficionado?
The zoo actually has an interesting collection of Madagascan animals. Fossa, red-ruffed lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs, black parrots, radiated tortoises, hissing cockroaches, and several gecko species.
There was an enclosure with a ringtail (did not see the animal), a species not often exhibited in American zoos.
There is a large pond for Pacific pond turtles that was under renovation when I visited.
Does this zoo have any immersion exhibits that would impress a zoo aficionado?
There is a nice immersive lemur exhibit that is where the concrete monkey island used to be. It is nice and green with a bamboo forest surrounding it. The snow leopard exhibit (formerly a mountain lion exhibit) is fairly large and nicely planted. There is a very nice aviary for northern bald ibis and other Mediterranean bird species – a very uncommon theme exhibit in American zoos.
Does this zoo have any good basic exhibits?
There is a series of nice exhibits for small primates – golden lion tamarins, cotton top tamarins, and black-tufted marmosets.
Does this zoo have any exhibits that should be bulldozed?
The zoo in general is beautifully landscaped in parts, but cannot disguise that it has 60 year old infrastructure. Several of the old cages that were once big cat, chimp, bear, etc. now house small mammals and birds. The zoo lost its AZA accreditation because it did not have adequate funding to upgrade its infrastructure to modern standards. The loss of accreditation resulted in the closure of the sea lion exhibit and the loss of unique species like fruit bats and Chinese alligators. Large chunks of the zoo need to be modernized.
There were plans to build a modern snow leopard and small-clawed otter exhibit complex. Construction started, but stopped due to lack of funding and loss of accreditation. There is currently a walled-off area of the zoo with signs showing the snow leopard exhibit that they want to build there (apparently otters were deleted from the plans).
Does this zoo have any elements that make it particularly family friendly?
It is a very small family-friendly zoo. The Madagascan area has a large concrete tortoise statue that kids can climb on. There is a lorikeet aviary where the sea lion exhibit used to be, but it was empty when I visited.
Does this zoo have any interesting plans for the future?
Hopefully a new snow leopard exhibit will be built at some point. The Pacific pond turtle habitat and lemur exhibit were both under construction when I visited the zoo, so something is being upgraded there. I talked with a staff member who said that they desperately want to get their AZA accreditation back, but it seems like a pipe dream. The zoo needs major infrastructure upgrades to meet AZA standards apparently (like a veterinary hospital and new electrical and plumbing systems) that there is no funding for, much less the several new exhibits it needs.
Would a zoo aficionado like this zoo enough to go out of his or her way to visit it?
No. It is a pleasant zoo in a beautiful park, but unless you are bent on visiting every zoo in California or the United States or North America then you would probably not miss skipping this zoo.
That said, the staff are doing a good job of maintaining what they have and the animals are obviously well cared for. I attended a keeper talk about spider monkeys and watched a spider monkey catch a grape with its tail. I had never seen that before, and it was cool. Several of these talks were scheduled for various species throughout the day. The zoo obviously cares about conservation and education.
Date of visit: June 3, 2017
Does this zoo satisfy the reviewer’s Inner-3-Year-Old by featuring his lifelong favorite animals, giraffes and elephants?
Nope. At only 5 acres this entire zoo would probably fit within many modern elephant exhibits.
The Micke Grove Zoo is a small zoo within Micke Grove Park in Lodi, a small town in the Central Valley of California. The zoo was built in 1957. Originally it was a quadrangle of cages surrounding a sea lion pool, a concrete monkey island, and a large circular aviary. The cages were full of large animals like lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, polar bears, chimpanzees, wolves, and black bears. Over the decades the zoo has seriously downscaled the size of the species in its collection to match the small size of the zoo. The last polar bear died in the early 2000s. The only remaining big cat species is snow leopard.
Does this zoo have any animals that would excite a zoo aficionado?
The zoo actually has an interesting collection of Madagascan animals. Fossa, red-ruffed lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs, black parrots, radiated tortoises, hissing cockroaches, and several gecko species.
There was an enclosure with a ringtail (did not see the animal), a species not often exhibited in American zoos.
There is a large pond for Pacific pond turtles that was under renovation when I visited.
Does this zoo have any immersion exhibits that would impress a zoo aficionado?
There is a nice immersive lemur exhibit that is where the concrete monkey island used to be. It is nice and green with a bamboo forest surrounding it. The snow leopard exhibit (formerly a mountain lion exhibit) is fairly large and nicely planted. There is a very nice aviary for northern bald ibis and other Mediterranean bird species – a very uncommon theme exhibit in American zoos.
Does this zoo have any good basic exhibits?
There is a series of nice exhibits for small primates – golden lion tamarins, cotton top tamarins, and black-tufted marmosets.
Does this zoo have any exhibits that should be bulldozed?
The zoo in general is beautifully landscaped in parts, but cannot disguise that it has 60 year old infrastructure. Several of the old cages that were once big cat, chimp, bear, etc. now house small mammals and birds. The zoo lost its AZA accreditation because it did not have adequate funding to upgrade its infrastructure to modern standards. The loss of accreditation resulted in the closure of the sea lion exhibit and the loss of unique species like fruit bats and Chinese alligators. Large chunks of the zoo need to be modernized.
There were plans to build a modern snow leopard and small-clawed otter exhibit complex. Construction started, but stopped due to lack of funding and loss of accreditation. There is currently a walled-off area of the zoo with signs showing the snow leopard exhibit that they want to build there (apparently otters were deleted from the plans).
Does this zoo have any elements that make it particularly family friendly?
It is a very small family-friendly zoo. The Madagascan area has a large concrete tortoise statue that kids can climb on. There is a lorikeet aviary where the sea lion exhibit used to be, but it was empty when I visited.
Does this zoo have any interesting plans for the future?
Hopefully a new snow leopard exhibit will be built at some point. The Pacific pond turtle habitat and lemur exhibit were both under construction when I visited the zoo, so something is being upgraded there. I talked with a staff member who said that they desperately want to get their AZA accreditation back, but it seems like a pipe dream. The zoo needs major infrastructure upgrades to meet AZA standards apparently (like a veterinary hospital and new electrical and plumbing systems) that there is no funding for, much less the several new exhibits it needs.
Would a zoo aficionado like this zoo enough to go out of his or her way to visit it?
No. It is a pleasant zoo in a beautiful park, but unless you are bent on visiting every zoo in California or the United States or North America then you would probably not miss skipping this zoo.
That said, the staff are doing a good job of maintaining what they have and the animals are obviously well cared for. I attended a keeper talk about spider monkeys and watched a spider monkey catch a grape with its tail. I had never seen that before, and it was cool. Several of these talks were scheduled for various species throughout the day. The zoo obviously cares about conservation and education.
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