Zoos and other animal collections of New Zealand

I have compiled a small list of open and recently-closed captive animal places (mostly petting zoos and farm parks) that aren't on the list in the OP; both for want of something better to procrastinate with doing, and on the off-chance that anyone here will be interested.

LEGEND:

◯ = Appears to still be operating
[✕] = Operating, but not usually open to visitors
✕ = Closed


✕ Action World Paihia (Bay of Islands): A family recreational facility that apparently had domestic ducks and a small number of domestic mammals. Closed in 2020.

◯ Crystal Mountain (Auckland): Includes a farm park; online photos show alpacas, emus, Indian peafowl, etc. I must note that the farm park is but one part of a "fascinating" combination of children's rides with copyright infringement, a mineral museum and shop, and a big collection of kitsch statues of extinct and extant animals. Would it be cruel of me to say that this could well be what Butterfly Creek will look like ten years from now? https://www.crystalmountain.co.nz/Theme+Park/Animal+Park++Rides.html

◯ Mini Golf Rotorua: Has domestic rabbits, and possibly a few common birds and fish. Mini Golf Rotorua

◯ Flat Hills Café & Tourist Park (Rangitikei): Has a petting zoo.

✕ The Alpaca Place (Masterton): Alpaca farm that was open by appointment; closed to visitors in mid-to-late 2020 or shortly afterwards.

✕ Gallin Farm Alpacas & Farmstay (Masterton): Alpaca farm that was open by appointment; closed to visitors in 2023.

[✕] The Black Sheep Animal Sanctuary (Ōtaki): Rescue facility for domestic animals. Occasionally has open days. About us

✕ Lotsa Follies (Tawa, Wellington): Petting zoo that seems to have closed in 2018 or shortly afterwards. Apparently may re-open, but whether this will eventuate remains to be seen.

◯ Trickle Creek (Horokiwi, Wellington): Very small-scale petting zoo that is open by appointment, but mainly intended for very young children. https://www.tricklecreek.co.nz/

◯ Te Paranui (Koromiko, near Picton): Perhaps technically a farm park, but seems to be more like a rescue facility for domestic animals that happens to be open to visitors on Saturdays. Visitors are not allowed to bring food that contains animal products of any kind. Te Paranui – Animal Sanctuary in Marlborough

◯ New Zealand Raptor Trust's "The Raptor Experience" (Timaru): A rescue facility for terrestrial birds of prey that is open by appointment. Appears to have very few permanent captive birds; possibly just two swamp harrier and two little owl. Intends to hold NZ falcon in the future but this may be unlikely.
Website: https://nzraptor.org/
Further reading: https://i.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/131892554/nz-raptor-trust-to-spread-its-speciessaving-wings

◯ The Animal Ark Dunedin (Mosgiel): Petting zoo.

✕ Mataura Petting Zoo (Gore): Closed in late 2019.
 
Canterbury Museum does not currently have tarantulas. Their remaining tarantulas (all three of them) were moved to Otago Museum in October 2022 because of a major renovation project at Canterbury Museum that will be completed in 2028 at the earliest. At the time that the departure of the tarantulas was announced on social media, it was also stated that the intention is to bring the tarantulas back to Canterbury Museum once its renovation is complete.

I have no idea what the ages of those tarantulas are, nor of how important the museum staff thinks it is to retain tarantulas in the future, so I will reserve judgement regarding how likely it is that that plan will come to fruition. In any case, Canterbury Museum does not currently have any live animals and will not have any again for at least a long while.

https://fb.watch/oT1D4QZfyv/?mibextid=Nif5oz
 
Blenheim also has Kārearea Falcon Trust / Marlborough Falcon Conservation Trust. It is a rescue- and breed-and-release facility for New Zealand Falcon that holds only that species. It is open to guided tours by appointment for part of the year (January to May).

Kārearea Falcon Trust
 
NZ's council-run aviaries draw nearer to becoming a thing of the past, with Feilding's Kowhai Park aviaries of exotic birds now being due for removal. Another aviary in the park, which contained native birds, was removed in 2017.

Stuff
 
There is possibly a butterfly house in Te Puna Quarry Park in the Bay of Plenty. The Park's official website only mentions a "Butterfly Garden", but other places online say that the Park has an actual butterfly house. Some social media posts that I have seen suggest that this butterfly house has/had Emperor Gum Moth (Opodiphthera eucalypti), Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus), Lesser Wanderer (Danaus petilia), and possibly native admirals (Vanessa sp.). Additionally, the Honshu White Admiral (Limenitis glorifica) was bred in captivity at the Park for intentional release as a biocontrol agent, according to this article from early 2018:

The man who helps find butterfly love
 
Woodend, in Canterbury not far from Christchurch, has a place called Wilderness Woodend. It is a pet supply shop that also has an animal collection of exotic birds (possibly including Himalayan Monal and Mandarin Duck), exotic reptiles, and Naultinus geckos. They have a website but it does not say much about the animals at their facility at this time; their Facebook page has a lot more information (including posts which say that they have helped with reptile keeping at Wellington Zoo and Auckland Zoo before).
 
I am aware that Deer Park Heights in Queenstown has been brought up in this forum before, but I think that it may now be appropriate for this place to be added to the list of current zoos. After initially closing to the public in 2009, it was re-opened in 2020 (access is by appointment only). In addition to domestic mammals, European fallow deer, and red deer, the park's website says that they have Himalayan tahr, and online photos suggest that they also have at least two American bison.
 
The Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre could possibly be added to the list of animal collections. It is located next door to Kiwi North and can apparently be visited by the public during weekdays. In addition to rescuing and releasing wild birds, it seems that the centre also has some long-term captive birds. Online photos that were uploaded in 2024 (and I think taken then) that I have seen showed that the centre at least had signed and occupied aviaries for New Zealand Pigeon and Swamp Harrier at that time. There are also online news articles which say that the centre has a one-footed North Island Brown Kiwi that is named "Sparky", but it is unclear whether he is still alive.

Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary, in Taupō, is another place that strikes me as interesting but I am unsure of whether it ought to be on the list. It has a predator-proof fence for an area which contains within it European Fallow Deer, Domestic Helmeted Guineafowl, Domestic mallards, pheasants, and most notably South Island Takahē (which have recently bred there).
 
Some other places that I have recently learned of and feel like mentioning here:

-Sculptureum (Matakana, near Auckland): Has aviaries.
-Whatawhata Berry Farm (Whatawhata, Waikato): Has a petting zoo.
-Kaipaki Farmyard / Kaipaki Petting Farm (Ōhaupō, Waikato): Petting zoo.
-Peat Park (Whanganui): Has an enclosure with European fallow deer.
-Mrs Macdonald's Farm Park (Whanganui): Petting zoo.
-Heartland Cottage (Foxton Beach): Petting zoo; open by appointment only.
-Tussock Ridge Farm Tours (Ohariu, Wellington): Farm tour by appointment; includes captive Kaimanawa horses.
-Eyebright Country Store (Appleby, Tasman District): Has a "Guinea pig village".
-Multiple domestics-only places around Lake Tekapo: Mount Hay Farm Experience, Lake Tekapo Petting Zoo, Lake Tekapo High Country Farm Tours.


Places that are not zoos, but could still be of interest to zoochatters who are in the area:

-Wop Wops Wetland Park (Norsewood, Tararua District): Small park with easy viewing of wild NZ long-finned eels.
-Vanished World Centre (Duntroon, near Oamaru): No live animals; museum with locally-discovered fossils from prehistoric cetaceans.


Also, I should note that it was previously unclear whether Wilderness Woodend's collection of animals could be viewed by the public, but the facility is now advertising animal tours by appointment. Their exotic bird collection could potentially be fascinating by NZ standards.
 
I notice that Fyffe View Ranch Adventure & Animal Park near Kaikoura is listed in this thread as still operating. Rather than bumping the very old thread about that facility, I will just point out here that the park probably closed a long time ago. Their Facebook page no longer exists, and the CEO who was hoping to make the park into more than just a petting zoo retired in 2013. The most recent reviews for the park on TripAdvisor are from 2015.

In addition to not getting the zebras from Franklin Zoo, or a giraffe (neither of which had any chance of actually happening), it appears that Fyffe View also never got clearance for exhibiting protected native birds. Articles about the park from back then strongly suggest that there were too many legal hurdles in the way for that to become a reality, despite it seeming like a more realistic goal. The requirement to destroy any Kea eggs that may have been produced was a particularly stupid and disturbing rule.
 
Cassidy Casuar said:
NZ's council-run aviaries draw nearer to becoming a thing of the past, with Feilding's Kowhai Park aviaries of exotic birds now being due for removal. Another aviary in the park, which contained native birds, was removed in 2017.
Click to expand...
Cassidy Casuar said:
Virginia Lake Aviary will be permanently closed from the 1st of July. The aviary's closing had been seriously considered by the Whanganui District Council since at least 2022.
Click to expand...

I can't find anything recent on the Feilding aviaries, but the Virginia Lake aviary is still in operation.
 
Chlidonias said:
Marlborough Zoological Park (Renwick) – opened in 1982, closed in c.1985-1988. There is very little information online. This article is the only comprehensive account: Stuff. The zoo was overwhelmed by floods in July 1983 and a lot of the animals drowned, although it stayed open for a few more years. The article mentions or depicts lions, tigers, peccaries, barbary sheep, water buffalo, American bison, blackbuck, deer, kangaroos, black-capped capuchins, small-clawed otters, and ostrich. The giraffe mentioned in some places apparently never existed.
Click to expand...
In addition to the mentioned Cock and Bull Stories, the Marlborough Zoological Park is also briefly discussed in that book's sequel; Old Dogs New Tricks (2016). After the construction of the facility's grounds was completed, the first animals to be transported to Renwick were 1.1 lions, a tiger, and multiple water buffalos. All of these were surplus animals that were purchased from Orana Park, and they were all simultaneously transported from Orana Park to Renwick in a single truck. The Marlborough Zoological Park was permitted to have lions only if they were non-breeding, thus the male lion was vasectomised shortly before the truck journey began. The book also tells the funny story of how the vets who were driving the truck were halted by a police officer who demanded to see their cargo. The police officer then came face-to-face with one of the big cats, giving the cop the fright of his life.
 
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