We chose the Rosemond Gifford Zoo to attend recent...

We chose the Rosemond Gifford Zoo to attend recently becasue their animals have been featured a few times in The Week Junior, a national news magazine my tween receives.

Right now during reopening in pandemic times, admission prices remain the same but online reservations are required for admittance, except for members. Most of the outdoor animals are viewable, but the darkroom and aviary are not open at this time.

Overall, we found out recent visit to be fun even with the pandemic restrictions, and that many of the animals have changed since our last visit. The lemurs were very active and are always worth a trip to see.

*A few months later...

We returned and got the VIP treatment by going on an animal encounter with the two-toed sloth, Arana. We were able to see her in person and speak with the handler for a half an hour. It was awesome!

I was in communication with the Director of Programs, Heidi Strong, and mentioned that my daughter had saved $ for a donation to adopt the turkey vultures. To ride along with the encounter, she organized a special visit to meet the turkey vulture care taker, Lucas. He had the male turkey vulture make my daughter a painting. It was really an amazing experience, above and beyond what I had been expecting!

In addition, winter is a perfect time to visit the zoo because a lot of the animals are Asian species and enjoy the colder weather. The snow leopards, tigers, Stellar's sea eagle, and numerous other animals were very active today during the near-freezing temperatures.