This was by far one of the most beautiful zoo's I ...

This was by far one of the most beautiful zoo's I have had the pleasure to go to.
The enclosures were awesome and the interior enclosures (elephants for example) was just as equally impressive. You could see that they truly care for and have nothing but the best interests for these animals. Usually when you watch the animals at a zoo they don't always appear to be happy with their environment and their enclosures however mimic their wild habitat they lack in so many ways as well in serving the animals wellbeing. The staff were all very knowledgeable about the animals in their care and you could see that they had a great relationship with the animals themselves which is imperative for these creatures to thrive outside their natural environment, because they rely 100% on their curators.
We spent a full 7 hours there and didn't realize how much time had passed.
The only drawback I had was that when we arrived for the event we registered for at 8 am I walked by an employee of the zoo twice even spoke with him and not once did he mention that you had to pay to park. I didn't see anything in the section I was in stating that parking pass was required and came out to a parking violation of $45! When I went to the customer Services center and told them the situation I am informed that the parking lot is not actually part of the zoo. However, it's patrolled by the city of Portland and that they were sorry for the situation but I had to deal with the city. So make sure that you pay for parking even if you are on a lot that doesn't have a pay to park sign, because you WILL be fined.
Other than that little bleep on my day it was fantastic. I would recommend it to everyone.