Persephone
Well-Known Member
My family has history in the area and I’ve heard some sketchy things about this place. I’ve been reluctant to go because of it, even though it is the closest proper zoo to my home. I had business in Washington Park yesterday and decided I’d been putting it off for too long.
Washington Park Zoo is small, less than ten acres, and built onto a hill. This makes building large exhibits tricky, but does allow them to work with the terrain for interesting viewing angles.
The zoo is one of many smaller facilities that says it’s gunning for AZA status. Talk is cheap and I was skeptical. But after going… it’s actually good? Not great. I have definitely seen worse AZA facilities that are still accredited, though. They’ve cut down on the number of large animals and now only the grizzly bears feel a little cramped. And the domestics, but they always get the short end of the stick. Other than that, a few of the smaller species could probably use more room. The turaco in particular stood out in a bad way. That should be easy enough to fix since this place is littered with aviaries. I don’t know this place’s financials. If those are steady, I actually could see them getting accredited in the near-ish future.
The collection was about in-line with what I’d expect from a unaccredited small zoo. Lots of domestics, natives, or common pets. A few nice treats like capybaras. Supposedly there’s an ermine coming later in the summer. There are also a few lovely species more common outside the AZA than in it such as red-handed tamarin and black-throated magpie-jay. Biggest rarity currently on display is a pair of white-thighed hornbills. If the park’s signage is correct about the species and ZTL are correct about the holders, those might be the only ones in the United States. I also very much liked the silkie chicken in their aviary. Speaking of which, they apparently sold too many feed sticks for the birds so no one actually finished theirs. Since the entrance is also the exit, I just got handed one on entry. So did basically everyone else. I had a cockatiel on me for maybe fifteen minutes.
A few exhibits stood out as pretty good, like a decently sized bald eagle aviary, and a nice fallow deer exhibit in the woods. The walkthrough aviary was also a good size for its inhabitants. I also actually liked most of their cat enclosures. This is because the leopard exhibit was built for tigers and the mountain lion’s had a hill to work with. But a win is a win for climbing cats.
Anyway, it was good. I don’t know if it’s worth going out of your way unless you’re really into ermines, hornbills, or historic zoo architecture. It’s still not that far behind the nearby Potawatomi in my opinion. If they do join the AZA and get better species to replace some of the domestics / pets, I could see it being pretty close.
Species are listed as they were signed. Quotes for when I doubt something or the signage was maddeningly vague. Italics means I didn’t see it.
Indian Peafowl (Roaming)
“African” Leopard
Budgeriar, Cockatiel, Silkie Chicken
Double Yellow-Headed Amazon
Eclectus Parrot
Scarlet Macaw
Domestic Goat
American Alligator, Red-Eared Slider
Capybara
Patagonian Cavy, Black-Throated Magpie-Jay
Black-Handed Spider Monkey
Domestic Chicken
Miniature Zebu
Llama
Alpaca
Kunekune Pig
Miniature Horse, Miniature Donkey
Barn Owl
Bobcat
Arctic Fox
Red-Tailed Hawk
Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur
Tufted Capuchin
North American River Otter
Sun Conure
Red-Handed Tamarin, “Junglefowl”
Mountain Lion
Turkey Vulture
Grizzly Bear
Harris Hawk
Timber Wolf
Bald Eagle
Canada Goose, Sacred Ibis, Cattle Egret, Domestic Pigeon, East African Crowned Crane, Abdim’s Stork, Black-Crowned Night-Heron
White-Thighed Hornbill
Koi
Ring-Tailed Lemur, Unsigned Duck
Axolotl
Fennec Fox
Corn Snake
“Molly,” “Plecostomus,” “Rainbowfish, “Barb,” “Corydoras,” “Danio,” “Glofish”
African Side Necked Turtle
Western Honey Bee
Ermine (Coming Summer 2025)
Blood Python
Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula
Cotton-Top Tamarin
Red-Crested Turaco
Unsigned Blue-and-Yellow Macaw
Eurasian Eagle Owl
Turkey Vulture
Red-Footed Tortoise, Green Iguana
Reeve’s Muntjac
Fallow Deer
Amazon Tree Boa
Pueblan Milk Snake
Crested Gecko
Common Leopard Gecko
Colorado River Toad
Western Whiptail
Sudan Plated Lizard
Blue-Tongued Skink
Giant Day Gecko, White’s Tree Frog
Giant African Bullfrog
Mexican Alligator Lizard
Ball Python
Bearded Dragon
Jungle Carpet Python
Gila Monster
Boa Constrictor
Argentine Black and White Tegu
Common Marmoset, Brazilian Three-Banded Armadillo
American Crow
Grant’s Zevra
Laughing Kookaburra
Bennet’s Wallaby
Sulcata Tortoise
African Lion
Washington Park Zoo is small, less than ten acres, and built onto a hill. This makes building large exhibits tricky, but does allow them to work with the terrain for interesting viewing angles.
The zoo is one of many smaller facilities that says it’s gunning for AZA status. Talk is cheap and I was skeptical. But after going… it’s actually good? Not great. I have definitely seen worse AZA facilities that are still accredited, though. They’ve cut down on the number of large animals and now only the grizzly bears feel a little cramped. And the domestics, but they always get the short end of the stick. Other than that, a few of the smaller species could probably use more room. The turaco in particular stood out in a bad way. That should be easy enough to fix since this place is littered with aviaries. I don’t know this place’s financials. If those are steady, I actually could see them getting accredited in the near-ish future.
The collection was about in-line with what I’d expect from a unaccredited small zoo. Lots of domestics, natives, or common pets. A few nice treats like capybaras. Supposedly there’s an ermine coming later in the summer. There are also a few lovely species more common outside the AZA than in it such as red-handed tamarin and black-throated magpie-jay. Biggest rarity currently on display is a pair of white-thighed hornbills. If the park’s signage is correct about the species and ZTL are correct about the holders, those might be the only ones in the United States. I also very much liked the silkie chicken in their aviary. Speaking of which, they apparently sold too many feed sticks for the birds so no one actually finished theirs. Since the entrance is also the exit, I just got handed one on entry. So did basically everyone else. I had a cockatiel on me for maybe fifteen minutes.
A few exhibits stood out as pretty good, like a decently sized bald eagle aviary, and a nice fallow deer exhibit in the woods. The walkthrough aviary was also a good size for its inhabitants. I also actually liked most of their cat enclosures. This is because the leopard exhibit was built for tigers and the mountain lion’s had a hill to work with. But a win is a win for climbing cats.
Anyway, it was good. I don’t know if it’s worth going out of your way unless you’re really into ermines, hornbills, or historic zoo architecture. It’s still not that far behind the nearby Potawatomi in my opinion. If they do join the AZA and get better species to replace some of the domestics / pets, I could see it being pretty close.
Species are listed as they were signed. Quotes for when I doubt something or the signage was maddeningly vague. Italics means I didn’t see it.
Indian Peafowl (Roaming)
“African” Leopard
Budgeriar, Cockatiel, Silkie Chicken
Double Yellow-Headed Amazon
Eclectus Parrot
Scarlet Macaw
Domestic Goat
American Alligator, Red-Eared Slider
Capybara
Patagonian Cavy, Black-Throated Magpie-Jay
Black-Handed Spider Monkey
Domestic Chicken
Miniature Zebu
Llama
Alpaca
Kunekune Pig
Miniature Horse, Miniature Donkey
Barn Owl
Bobcat
Arctic Fox
Red-Tailed Hawk
Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur
Tufted Capuchin
North American River Otter
Sun Conure
Red-Handed Tamarin, “Junglefowl”
Mountain Lion
Turkey Vulture
Grizzly Bear
Harris Hawk
Timber Wolf
Bald Eagle
Canada Goose, Sacred Ibis, Cattle Egret, Domestic Pigeon, East African Crowned Crane, Abdim’s Stork, Black-Crowned Night-Heron
White-Thighed Hornbill
Koi
Ring-Tailed Lemur, Unsigned Duck
Axolotl
Fennec Fox
Corn Snake
“Molly,” “Plecostomus,” “Rainbowfish, “Barb,” “Corydoras,” “Danio,” “Glofish”
African Side Necked Turtle
Western Honey Bee
Ermine (Coming Summer 2025)
Blood Python
Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula
Cotton-Top Tamarin
Red-Crested Turaco
Unsigned Blue-and-Yellow Macaw
Eurasian Eagle Owl
Turkey Vulture
Red-Footed Tortoise, Green Iguana
Reeve’s Muntjac
Fallow Deer
Amazon Tree Boa
Pueblan Milk Snake
Crested Gecko
Common Leopard Gecko
Colorado River Toad
Western Whiptail
Sudan Plated Lizard
Blue-Tongued Skink
Giant Day Gecko, White’s Tree Frog
Giant African Bullfrog
Mexican Alligator Lizard
Ball Python
Bearded Dragon
Jungle Carpet Python
Gila Monster
Boa Constrictor
Argentine Black and White Tegu
Common Marmoset, Brazilian Three-Banded Armadillo
American Crow
Grant’s Zevra
Laughing Kookaburra
Bennet’s Wallaby
Sulcata Tortoise
African Lion
