Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary Reviews

The director of the zoo allows animals to suffer greatly. She should be fired asap. The Chronicle is running an article on her. Get her out of there and replace her with someone who has compassion first.

The staff was friendly and helpful, the bathroom was clean, the animals were well taken care of. It wasn't crowded at all. The over all experience was better than most standard zoos I've ever been to.

Cozy little zoo. Good amount of animals. Best for kids.

Small but awesome! Friendly staff and lots of great animals my kids loved! You will definitely want to buy the extra food for the goats, sheep, deer and llama and donate if you can. The train ride is great for little ones.

From all the great reviews I expected more. Small zoo, rough terrain, decent animals. Tourist let down.

So many of the animals looked terribly ill: a black bear having difficulty breathing, an eagle with many missing feathers, lemurs shivering, a cougar pacing, pacing, pacing. Many of the exhibits were closed due to mud. The entire time we were there we only saw 2 employees besides the ticket taker. I left feeling sad for these animals.

Love the staff at this zoo. They have wonderful respect for the animals and the visitors. Talking to them in the first 30 seconds and talking to them for hours you realize it's not work for them. Its not a sales pitch. It's a passion. A passion for good, no great serivice to the earth our planet that they provide. Rescue Zoo is a name but really it is a passion a way of life better yet. RESPECT for all. I looking forward o my next trip from Virginia to Texas.

Super small and no intresting animals. Pretty pathetic for such a big city!!

A great little zoo. Not publicly funded and focused on rescued animals. But they do have the "lions and tigers and bears." And llamas!

Great little zoo. Fun for the whole family! I highly recommend this place.

We love the Austin Zoo. It's not your typical city zoo, all the resident critters are rescues, former exotic pets and such. A great Covid activity, there's plenty of room to enjoy and social distance. Make sure you buy your tickets in advance at austinzoo.org and don't forget your mask!

We love this sweet little zoo. It's really well shaded and it's easy to get up close to the animals.

We loved this zoo! It's a nonprofit zoo, which is always a plus to us and they seem to take good care of their animals. I highly recommend feeding the Llamas, deer, goats and sheep! Super fun experience and inexpensive.

Seriously amazing being up close and personal with all the animals.

A small rescue zoo. Easy to complete before kids loose patience. Wish the train ride was more often.

Great family fun and super cool views. Be ready for lots of pics

Loved the zoo just hoped the animals were more active so I'll be going back during the fall or spring

Disappointing. The layout is confusing, and while there is decent signage, there are no maps posted anywhere.
Doable with a good stroller, but not what I would call stroller friendly gravel paths, and a lot of uphill.
The train only runs once an hour on the hour. When I checked in at the office I expressed interest in the train (which you purchase tickets for at the depot), but the staffer didn t mention that it only runs that infrequent. I planned to do it last, but found out I missed that hour s train by 7 minutes.
I understand it is more of a shelter / rescue than a traditional zoo, but I guess I expected something different. Not impressed, probably won t return.

Every single animal here is rescued from bad situations, and more importantly, spoiled rotten. This is less of a zoo and more of an animal vacation retreat that you get to observe. Most animals are small (former pets) but there are some big cats that live here. You can feed goats and other petting zoo animals, but most are hands off. Don't miss the chirping red foxes and the wolf hybrids! Both very cute and fluffy.

Sad for "wild animals" being in such tiny places in hot Texas!! But my daughter is only 3 an it was enjoyable for her for about an hour

Great little zoo, lots of shade. Entertaining train ride and petting zoo. Best sno cones in Travis County. My whole family agreed.

I love that this zoo is here because it really isn't your typical zoo, it takes in animals that have been neglected as well. My daughter loves it because they have all sorts of animals and it's very big, and you're able to feed the animals as well. The place is shaded and the trails are nice to follow, and also a snow cone vendor there to offer a nice cool down after walking around.

Hardly saw any animals. There was only one restroom throughout the whole zoo and it was nasty. Got 2 stars only because the education trainer was good handling the tortoise!

Surprisingly great place to visit. Many animals being helped, lots to see.

Nice place but really small. You can walk the whole thing in about an hour. This zoo is rescue only so not all of the animals are in tip top shape. Felt bad for the big piggy that they had. All in all a nice place to bring the family just know what you re getting yourself / family into before you come

This is more of an animal rescue than zoo. The animals are in cages instead of natural environments. It's nice that they rescue. Decent place.

Fun local zoo for the kids. It's small, and excellent for 6 and under kids. Head to Waco or SA if you want a full zoo experience.

Its more of animal sanctuary Waco is smaller than austin but the zoo far superior couldn't decide cash or card where you went no consistency train was down at a time when more people are there wasn't worth the money

It is not fancy zoo like the one in any major cities but this place offers better environment for animals and those visit to see the animals. My kids loved it. I would visit this zoo again near future.

Love the Gray wolf exhibit. Dont go in the middle of the day they are all sleeping.

Such a great little zoo and something I can feel good about supporting because every animal is a rescue. There is a lot to see and the peacocks that roam free across the whole zoo are beautiful. Just a really cool experience all around

Absolutely loved it. Hands on experience. Saw some wolves, pretty interesting

This zoo truly exceeded my expectations! My husband and I spent 3 hours here! We read every exhibit and saw every animal, which is something we don t typically do. The majority of the animals have individual signs with biographies , which is such a nice and personal touch. The signs are well written and educational. The staff was friendly toward the animals and you can tell they really care about them. We are grateful for this rescue zoo and all that they do for these beautiful creatures!

This place is small. BUT ITS THE BEST SMALL PLACE. these animals are all rescues! That's awesome enough in itself! It's just the perfect size for my two year old son to walk around and see everything in a couple hours with out the lines and walking 100 MILES, Everything is close! The peacocks in the lunch area AWESOME! I realized I'm terrified of huge birds with no boundaries but still beautiful as all hell. Definitely go man! It's no SA zoo. HOWEVER it's a sanctuary and that beats any zoo - hook em!

It's not very big but that's good if you don't want to walk too far. There's a diverse bunch of animals from monkeys to wolves to tigers to farm animals at their petting zoo area. You can feel good about going here because it's a rescue and release zoo.

The zoo was outside and animals were too cold to come out and play. They had relatively few species and no elephant, giraffe, crocodile, antelope, or pretty much anything besides a few monkeys and not even a freaking gorilla.

This has to be the best unknown family activity. It's more of a nonprofit animal sanctuary so your healing a good cause, rather then a big city zoo. It's large and has a pretty impressive variety of species for what it is though. It was very reasonable, quiet, and relaxing.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting. It's a smaller zoo in terms of size and variety of animals.

I still had a good time and appreciate them providing a sanctuary for animals who have been abandoned or not properly cared for.

Amazing rustic rescue zoo....happy to spend the money to help the animals. Only let down was the train ride. If it was going through the zoo a bit more it would have been worth it. Otherwise 5 stars for their rescue services!!!

I have been to the zoo years ago, but with the recent Austin American Statesman article that came out a couple of days ago, I will not be returning. The reported treatment of their animals and lack of veterinary care is appalling. It is unfortunate that it is not being managed ethically.

I always have a feel good day at this rescue zoo, knowing these animals were brought into a better life.

Hot day animals were hiding but loved the tiger, pig, and porcupine. I didn't like that I could only use one of my Groupon deals!

it is very neglected, besides the animals do not have the ideal conditions

This place is really helping out the animals in need! Make sure you read their stories.

We've had really great birthday parties for the kids twice here, and gone on a number of other occasions. The facilities area little basic - many trails are dirt and rock, so rainy weather or strollers may present a problem - but it's close and affordable compared to the zoos in San Antonio or Waco. The creatures are rescues or surplus animals from other facilities.

Once is enough. They need a lot of money to upgrade this zoo.
San Antonio Zoo is 10 times better.

Great for the kids -- particularly feeding the goats and alpacas. Makes you feel good to see the animals have natural habitats.

Too hut for summer days. Good Zoo, not a lot of animals. Bathrooms are SUPER HUT AND DIRTY.

It's a rescue zoo so all the animals came from and situations. I enjoyed my time there

It's for very small children. My 2 year old granddaughter loved it. PLENTY of shade, the small train ride was fun.

Nice zoo! It was very fun to see all those peacocks wandering around in the zoo!

Great little zoo. Not comparable to a major zoo that you may be used to, but the animal feeding was perfect for our 19mo toddler.

Great scenery and the animals were very active during our visit.

We saw animals we have never seen before! Tigers, lions, bears (oh my!) And so much more. Cougars, lynx, ect. So happy we went!

Honestly, it's a beautiful little zoo. Just the right size in my opinion. I'm not a fan of the captive animals concept, but the vast majority are rescues and pet-surrenders. I noticed that a few were transfers from other zoos to keep the rescued animals company. The primate section is impressive and diverse. And you can get quite close - just out of arms reach from their cages. The drive their is also gorgeous - rolling hills and beautiful houses on windy roads. Great experience

The Austin Zoo it's a wonderful experience. Almost every Zoo I've ever visited the animals look so miserable. They are listless don't look anybody in the eye and just overall seem sad. That is not the case with the Austin Zoo. They're animals move around and even come up as close as they possibly can to the edge of the fence near the people. The animals look healthy they seem to enjoy the people around them. They look you right in the eye they don't seem afraid of people which is usually a good sign of no abuse. I think anyone wanting to take a great day of education and a lot of fun should go.

Small. Good for young kids. Good for a couple hours. Not an all day excursion. Didn't see any bears or female lions during our visit.

Though a bit small, it's nice that the animals are rescued.

This zoo is non profit so they take in surrendered, found, and rescued animals. The care and public education of the animals and people is top notch.

I have six beautiful grandchildren, under 13!!! Lovely, small sanctuary of God's perfect creatures! Nice, easy, leisurely outing for all of us!!!

This sanctuary was pretty fun. We loved feeding the animals and seeing giant tortoise. Much better than we expected.

It was cool and stuff u they had some of the animals out and it was kinda of anoyimg

I am a big supporter of rescues.This place was very clean and the animals looked very well maintained.It is mostly shaded on all the trails.I think this place is great for young children.It is low cost.It is small but when you have a young child your not going to go to a place you have to walk forever.My children were very happy and excited.There is a nice train ride,however it does not go through the zoo.It is a ride through the surrounding woods, but my children still liked it.

The Austin Zoo is defiantly a place for kids to good and enjoy themselves. There is a train that goes around every 15 minutes, a petting zoo, a lot of exciting animals, and rest areas in between animals. The staff is friendly and helpful.

I was disappointed in this zoo.You would think with a city the size of Austin they would have a much better zoo. Come on Austin pony up some$$ and refurbish this Zoo...

The zoo was nice and the staff was very friendly. I was a little disappointed because a lot of the animals were hard to see and most of them were doing anything they could do to stay out of the sun. Even tho the train was very simple, my son loved it.

Went there for boo at the zoo and they made us pay twice ?? Because we came early?? Really nice place but they basically stole are money.

Many animals off exhibit, had orange fence up that seperated us far from mnay of the exhibits. Very Overpriced for what it is.