You know its a bad sign when you literally have to climb over an elephant carcass to gain entrance to the local zoo, only to see that the Welcome to the Zoo sign is spray painted on particle board and you think to yourself "where the eff am I? And should I really be taking my child here?" But Lili really wanted to go so like any good mama would, I plopped her on the "sleeping" elephant and snapped a pic for her baby book.
Okay, Im exaggerating a little but seriously, not that much at all. There were no dead elephants, at least none in plain sight, but it certainly was a pretty strange zoo. As we were walking in there was a cute little garden looking entrance, a small habitat of flamingos and turtles, but this was by far their best work.
"NO REFUNDS!" was the first sign we see approaching the payment window, this should have tipped us off, It didn't, we walk in and as part of the first exhibit we see three hundred pigeons eating all of the food being sold for the "petting zoo" portion of the zoo, which seriously included 4 goats. We decided that maybe the petting zoo was a little rough looking for Lili so we were going to tour the rest of the zoo first.
We started by visiting with two huge ostriches, one looked semi normal and the other had a serious skin condition and was missing many feathers, she was also pretty aggressive. I walked over with goat feed in my hands and she started, pecking/thrusting her face at the fence trying to break through to me. It was a pretty decent exhibit and there were two large ostrich eggs out front which were cool to see. After feeding her (Mama Ostrich) a snack, we moved on...
There were some interesting birds next and David played them some appropriate music, they danced. Next was one monkey that you could look at through a really dirty glass window, Lili made some Monkey noises at him, he kept looking back over his shoulder while just sitting there twiddling his toes, he was really cute.
Next, they did have an alligator which Lili seemed to really like. She got pretty close to the glass to look at him and he was staring back at her, I freaked and David laughed. I'm a very protective mama and I owe it to my own mom, thanks Col! Next we saw a wild cat sleeping and some empty habitats. We went through the reptile house which had a few snakes and a few more empty cages, and that was about it at the Fabulous Las Vegas Zoo!!
As we are walking out of the exit we see one last sign. Have you ever been to a zoo that posted signs encouraging their patrons to inquire about adopting the zoo animals? I have! I mean seriously, you can adopt zoo animals? My friend swears the alligator had been adopted because his "habitat" was empty when she visited, however the family must not have like him very much because he was back in time for our visit.
Just before you walk out there is a little gift shop incase you wanted to purchase a keepsake from this fabulous day at the zoo, we did not! Last but not least there was a donation box! I donated and if I have not totally scared you off, you should donate also, the Las Vegas Zoo could in all seriousness use donations, those poor animals need a serious revamp of their home! I honestly wonder if maybe the horrible condition of the zoo was all some sort of strategic way of getting the patrons to donate, if so, fab idea! Worked on me! You can check out the Zoo's webpage HERE!
Enjoy the pictures...
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