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| - I have been to the Phoenix Zoo often enough that I buy an annual membership. I like to go there to walk the gently rolling footpaths among the trees to get some exercise and visit with the animals. There aren't a lot of places in Phoenix that have trees, water and greenery. One of the things I like most about the zoo is that there are very few cages as is stereotypical at many other zoos, so the animals live in a more indigenous environment. I like animals and I always have mixed feelings about them being locked up and put on display at public theme parks, but on the other hand I have had personal friends who worked with animals at zoos and other wildlife parks and I know there are positive aspects to the works those entities do. Of zoos I have visited the one in Phoenix seems to do a better job at how they treat the animals.
BUT on a recent visit I was told something disturbing about the Phoenix Zoo's policies. You see, all of the people I've known who worked at zoo-type venues were able to build a relationship with their animals through physical contact of holding them, petting them and just letting them know they are cared for. The Phoenix Zoo, on the other hand, forbids such contact. Each animal enclosure has a physical barrier that keeps humans and animals from ever coming in contact with each other. The barriers have small cutouts through which the animals must stick their body parts to be cleaned, given shots or blood drawn. Simply put, the animals can never be hugged or shown any one-on-one love. That seems to be a very backward policy and smacks of being written by their lawyers rather than animal lovers.
Other than that, here's a point by point synopsis of what to expect:
* The crass commercialism is mostly confined to the large food court area right inside the main entrance. Once you escape that area there are a lot of trees shaded paths (crucially important in Phoenix a good part of the year).
* The food concession prices are reasonable and family budget friendly. It's possible to eat lunch for under $10 a person including a beverage. That's rare at most theme parks.
* While there are water drinking fountains scattered around all of them are mounted about 3' high (in the guise of being wheelchair friendly, but effective at discouraging people to use them rather than buy a $4 bottle of water). The drinking fountain water isn't ice cold either.
* As is true at most zoos many of the animals sleep during the mid-day. Your chances of seeing an active lion, tiger, or any of the more exotic animals being active during the day is slim.
* Many of the enclosures have places where the animals can hide from view. Animals have learned to do just that.
* Anything that has a line WILL have a line, sometimes with long waits.
* The zoo is well designed for people of all ages to walk, and there are lots of benches to rest on.
* The zoo's basic membership is $55/person with the next level a whopping $195 - $1250+ from there. There are no senior, AAA, AARP or other discounts. There are also no discounts for "locals" like you would find at most other zoos and similar venues.
* But there ARE numerous discounts off the one-time daily $20 admission for those and other groups in an odd way discouraging people from buying annual membership.
* There are far fewer "zookeepers" to give talks about the animals than at other parks I have visited (most notably the San Diego Zoo). The Phoenix Zoo is pretty much self-guided. Since they don't let their zookeepers even touch their animals I can see why animal lovers aren't attracted to work there.
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