NATURAL BRIDGE ZOO Reviews

Place is a real dump and looks incredibly dated. I also saw people riding an elephant which I found shocking and wrong on every level. The elephant looked sad and visibly stressed. This place will haunt me for a long time.

Spent a wonderful few hours with our 3 year old. Very special experience getting so close to the animals.

Check out the YOUTube video on this place. Disgusting!!!

Good little walk thru zoo. Not often you can stand right next to a giraffe. Good gift shop. Everything was visible due to smaller enclosures.

Please go on YouTube and type "What Natural Bridge Zoo doesn't want the public to know". These animals are abused by the people who work there and own it. They hit, starve and isolate their animals. Safety for these beautiful be animals is certainly not a concern. Many animals sit in tiny crates and they never take them to the vet. I beg you to watch the video on YouTube before you consider going. It's sickening.

Horrible death trap for animals! I am a licensed vet tech and have worked in Wildlife sanctuaries and zoos and this place us absolutely disgusting! The animals are kept in cramped quarters. The Asian bears that arboreal have NO trees to climb, except a stump and sit there depressed with their heads hanging. The capuchins have only a plastic barrel for shelter. I saw a a few of the farm animals head pressing against the fence (stress). The elephant has horrible scald and is saddled in the hot sun for hours, led around in sad loop. The giraffes had browse and hardly any shade. The alligator was in a disgusting pond the size of a kiddie pool (also with no shade). Absolutely appalling. My 12 year old son was so upset he couldn't wait to leave. (He said his goal is to one day get this place shut down...this is from a child!). I could go on. Oh and their FB page states if you attempt to say anything negative about them you will be "banned forever". I live in VA and an ashamed that this place is still allowed to be open. The USDA needs to finish the job and get this place shut down.

I was so excited to go I m obsessed with elephants and it was my birthday. Riding an elephant is on my bucket list, I was very disappointed with how the animal handler treated and talked to me and my friends. Immediately I rubbed the elephant and he yelled for me not to touch the elephant, another lady worker said nicely it distracts the elephant, okay that s fine, then I asked if I could talk to the elephant and once again with an attitude he said no distractions. I was saddened and it ruined my whole trip, just by the way he was treating me. My friends got on and they said he must hate his job. As we walked around I just thought the animals looked sad. It just was not the experience I was hoping for. But the other faculty I came in contact with were polite and kind.

I wish I could rate it even less. In 2015, is was abusive and had animal cruelty, in 2017 they checked again, a little better but still overly crammed and had poor veterain service. 2018, i dont know, but currently I dont beleive this is the right lace to go and not a place to support

AMAZING! National Zoo can't come close. Feeding giraffes, monkeys, and other animals we only dreamed of was amazing! Costs much less than the Safari Park! I like my robbers to carry a gun.

I never would visit due to elephant rides. Get rid of that and you ll have my support. There s a reason it s been banned having elephant shows from circuses!

2nd time we had we been here, and love it! When you go, get the big bag of feed because the animals eat out of your hand. And be sure to ride the elephant.

Absolutely shocked and delighted with the range of animals here! A great place for the price, and was my first time ever seeing a tiger, giraffe, and many other animals in real life. Could not believe these amazing animals were here at this zoo that was seemingly in the middle of nowhere, lol. The bag of feed was a little too pricey for us, so we passed on it. But a kind family just inside the entrance was on their way out and gave us their almost-full bag of feed for free. Super nice. Would come back again to do the drive-thru zoo.

This is by far the worst zoo I have ever been to. It's sad how miserable some of the animals look. I do not recommend supporting this place, honestly surprised they're aloud to be operating.

Wish there was a way I could give absolutely zero stars. I BEG of u to never come to this place in your life. They TORTURE and NEGLECT animals for money and there is proof! Before you think about going to this hell hole for animals watch what natural bridge zoo is hiding from the public is disgusting on YouTube. These animals are strangled, overbread, poisoned, and much more. If you have any humanity do NOT go to this horrific place

The zoo was a smaller one. I wasnt impressed that hardly any animals had grass to graze on. The giraffes didn't have any grass or trees to eat
. The zebras or camels didnt either. It was sad to see these animals live in these conditions. I rather see this zoo close and the safari park take these animals.

Great place for family fun. Pack a lunch and make a day of it.

I always have a great time with the family here, they have lots of fun stuff for kids and adults, like the elephant ride, feeding the animals, and around Easter they have an egg hunt, or you can go to were the birds are and feed them and let them land on you

Horrible place. It s cruel to have elephant rides. They are wild animals and this isn t natural. It s one of the worst zoos I ve been to in this country.

This place is awesome, we have been there couple times and always enjoyed!

Great family atmosphere. The zoo was well maintained with a friendly staff and a great spread of animal species.

These people don't care about animals. There selfish and heartless people who only care about money and not animals. Please don't go here.

They have great staff and have awesome animals. I will recommend this zoo to alot of my friends. The atmosphere is wonderful and they make sure everyone stays safe.

Such a fantastic zoo....we came from Philadelphia, PA to for our reveal with our babys theme(The Elephant)...We went October 20th 2019....It was a rainy day and when we arrived at zoo they told us we can pay admission to walk to zoo in rain buy no elephant rides that day ...I was bummed but we still walked the zoo...all the animals were so awesome and we fed the goats and giraffes...such an amazing experience to feed the giraffes...we saw a worker and asked if they could just bring out the elephant at least so we can take pics to do our reveal. We explained we drove far and was pregnant. 20 min later Mark the trainer and handler of the beautiful elephant brought the elephant to us and told us some fantastic stories of the elephant and his past work with elephants. We asked if we could get on top for the reveal but since it was raining the elephant was very dirty so he instead opened the gates and let us come and get close to the elephant and feel her and takes pics for our reveal...Mark has so much knowledge with elephants that's its jaw dropping the stories he can tell...we were so happy ...we were the only ones at the zoo that day...it was neat like it was closed just for us ,lol....overall, zoo is fantastic and the animals are amazing and personal with you...only animal that I wanted to see close up that stayed in barn was camels...cant wait to return on a sunny day to ride elephant.

Garbage zoo ran by Garbage people. They don't care about their animals..they are merely wlking dollar signs. You're already here, just keep on reading Google about this place. You will see.

New monkeys were so cool and tame and it was super cool how they have them caged. Very much improved
Wish bear had a better enclosure.

Not bad but some of the animals,especially the tigers and the elephant don't have enough room. Also,it's my understanding that zoos are required to have at least three elephant s in order to keep them. The Norfolk Zoo had to get rid of theirs because they only had two. Also,it's inhumane to have people riding that poor animal.

Stop this zoo from operating! Elephant rides are cruel and this type of abuse to such intelligent sentient beings is absolutely disgusting!!! Heart breaking.

Loved our experience. Very well kept zoo! The elephant rides were awesome! We will be back.

Terrible conditions and treatment of Asha the elephant (riding an elephant causes them to develop painful, debilitating, spinal, leg, and foot issues-despite their size, it is not natural for them to carry weight on their backs-that is not something they would ever do naturally, and their bodies are not built for it; i noticed one review in which the person said they didnt see any mistreatment, but then mentioned you could ride the elephant-a contradiction in terms) and the other animals. Please don't frequent this place as that is contributing to their further abuse.

Worst Zoo. What is wrong with America! Why isn't this abuse stopped!

This place MUST close down.
No animals should be abused

Enjoyed everything about it. Great place. Returning this year to enjoy it again.

I really don't know how to report this place can someone help me. I would never visit this place, I would rather die! These people should be fired and be put in jail for what they have done to these poor animals. No one should come to this place. Please if you can report this place do it!

Too dusty. But got a very close look at giraffes. In general, all animals look well fed. Parrot feeding sticks were awesome !!

Loved seeing the animals wanted to take them home with. Got to feed the giraffes and elephant was beautiful and tigers. Parrots talked to us they told us bye when we walked away. Must see.

Great place. Great variety of animals to see and even get to feed. Lots of shade for the animals and visitors. The gift shop is nice and the staff are friendly.

Complete dump. Pathetic excuse of a business. Animals don't belong in this dump hole.

this place need to be closed, how would you feel if human babies where taken away from their mother for entertainment reasons? they abuse endangered exotic animals for money, please don't visit this place and don't support them.

I hate this place so much. The habitats were tiny and filled with gravel! The animals were in distress and visibly depressed. I wish they would just close it down already, but of course it will never be shut down because there's people still ignorant enough to give them money.

They force an elephant to be alone all day in deplorable conditions with only a single tire to play with and no shade. Stop taking your kids here and they will be forced to send that elephant with others where it belongs. Pure evil is what this place is! If you go here you're part of the problem. Send the elephant to a sanctuary.

MUST READ ..........This place is an amazing zoo... the animals are so well taken care of. The staff is friendly and such a great experience here you must go..........BEWARE OF THE LIES ABOUT THIS ZOO... you need to see for yourself...how amazing this zoo is!

If you notice about the 3-4 month review ago following my personal report.......this zoo cam under fire from faults reporting of an organization that is lying about the zoo.....notice how they only are mainly talking about the elephant..... the main campaign leader converted to ash she learned an understood how amazing well Asha the elephant was taken care of and now visits Asha frequently.... the people she lead to this shameful campaign to destroy this zoo is extremely mad about her converting veiw about the zoo and elephant. It's a truly beautiful zoo and the people there are so kind......don't read the negativity......go see it yourself....... these haters are like the news....telling lies...... take the kids and family there.... and you will always want to come back!

Went there with 8 kids to ride elephant. No one around at elephant stand for over an hour and no staff around to ask. Finally 3 women showed up at stand only to tell us to go back to office and get refund that there would be no rides today. No explanation at first until we asked why they sold us tickets then. They said the elephant had to have a medical procedure. Okay, I can understand an emergency procedure arising when working with animals but I can't understand the rude employees and why someone couldn't come out and explain the situation or put a sign up. So we went in to get our refunds and the two girls behind the counter were the two rudest employees I have ever in my life encountered. They most obviously are family or surely the owner would fire them on the spot. I will never go back there because of them and only them. You do not speak to customers the way they did and I was shocked. Cone on OWNER, look at how your staff is treating people. I'll spread the word to watch out for the two girls behind the counter. The rest if the zoo was okay. There was a dead bird in the bird cage that needed to be addressed but again, no staff to be found. The whole incident was not handled correctly.
Sad that these two girls ruined the entire experience because of their rude and arrogant behavior.

The enclosures were a little small but was overall a lot of fun

I do not support braking the spirit of animals to be ridden... Its an Elephant not a pony... This place makes me sick have it closed.

I saw the Humane Society video with the abuse of primates, and your treatment of those poor creatures, screaming in fear and pain, makes me want to vomit. How DARE you call yourselves a kid friendly establishment. If my children witnessed such cruelty it would scar them for life. All involved employees should be fired AND prosecuted. I'm a public speaker and I'm going to warn every group I speak to what you people are REALLY doing behind closed doors. I will also post videos JUST LIKE THAT ONE every week. You have no business having possession of ANY animals. Your despicable, viscious actions will be stuck in your face every opportunity I get, as I will never be able to unsee what I saw on that tape. You deserve every syllable of bad press that I can stir up. SHAME ON YOU, YOU SICK MONSTERS!!

We were at first a little nervous about what kind of place this would be based on the exterior and parking area but once we got in, we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of space and the amount of animals. The tigers and bears were very active and it was great to be able to hand feed animals that you wouldn't normally find at a petting zoo.

Well..... after visiting and then reading the reviews I m not for sure what zoo these folks went to but anyway everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I absolutely enjoyed this zoo and so did my daughter. Trust me I have been to worse places that keep animals but this one is very nice and quiet to me. However, I gave it four stars due to the fact it is a bit expensive for tickets although we did have a coupon for $2 off. Overall,,, Great place to visit at least one time!

Love it its good for kids to learn about animals that they may never see .

Stop going to this place for your own personal entertainment. If you really want to learn about read a book! Go on a true safari. This place teaches your kids nothing.

The higher ups of the zoo need to send Asha the elephant to a sanctuary. She has been trapped in a small barren paddock for 31 years and given simply a tire to play with, she has no socializations or friends. There is a petition online to send her to a sanctuary and if you care at all, please sign it.

the tourture of these animals are grueling to watch.

It was a great experience. Staff was very helpful!!

People are complaining about the elephant but honestly in the wild she would prob be dead. She looked healthy. She is active. I fed her treats. She bonded to that trainer and happily answered his commands. He spoke softly to her only raising his voice to speak to the crowd and myself. She is in a safe haven here, protected. I was happy to see this because I read the previous negative reviews and was not sure what to expect. They are false in my opinion. Go see for yourself.
It is a great chance to let our children experience animals so they can help be a part of the solution instead of the problem.
This place should have more stars. They offer the close encounter tour and it's really priceless. It was about the same price as the circus but interactive. I will never forget feeding the tigers (whom are not as hungry as they look) and thanks to the fabulous photographer we all have pictures to prove it. She really knew when to shoot. Well worth the price.
I would like to thank everyone there for the experience of a lifetime. So glad I could bring my family to a place like this.

Unless you're petting or feeding the animals don't know you're there.

Nice little zoo, my kids (8 & 7) had a blast. Lots of different animals to see

This doesn't look like much from the road but once inside be ready to be impressed. Me and my stopped by here while on our 18th anniversary and it ended up being a highlight of our trip.

This zoo is disgusting. They keep their animals in awful conditions. They should be shut down

Absolutley horrific, animals were abused and hurt. I was walking and I heard monkeys screaming so I went around and looked and there was a lady hitting it on the head and pulling its arms through a tiny cage. Also when I was looking at the rodents there were some dead and the cage was way to over filled. I have also got on camera the owner killing rodents by throwing them on the ground with a lot of force. Whatever you do dont waste your time and money hear as it is an abusive place that needs to immediatley be shut down!!!!!!

I have mixed feelings about this place. On one hand, it was really fun to see a bunch of different animals. And I loved the aviary with all the birds flying around you. The walk was decent and at one point a bunch of chickens were running around the zoo.
On the other hand, a lot of the animals seemed to be crammed together. And the ones who were not were in very small cages. The Elephant didn't look very good either.
Not sure I would visit again.

Decent zoo. Lots of different animals that all seem well kept. Some of them look like they could use some more room but I've seen worse. We had so much fun here! Cougars, bears, tigers, camels, giraffes, flamingos, elephants, porcupines, soo many different monkeys, are just a few of the species you'll find here for a decent price!

Great family outing. Numerous animals to see and interact with. Cheap. Loved the Zoo part. Zoo could use some updates and be better groomed. Ladies out in the Zoo interacting with the kids and animals was very friendly.

Only really issue my wife and I had was the lady running the gift shop and whom you bought your tickets from. Glued to her personnel cell phone and was'nt very pleasant. Acted like she got irratated when we went up to her to buy our tickets. Was'nt happy about that interaction.

Love walking through looking at the animlas and feeding them
Great for family.

We really enjoyed this small zoo. Amazing animals and caring zoo keepers. Small, but worth the time and money.

Do not go there we was out of town when we went there staff was mean

This place seemed so inhumane and the animals look miserable or aggressive, this place should not be open, these animals deserve better homes

Have been shown to abuse their animals over and over again, they should be shut down already. Letting animals irresponsibly breed and waste away from sickness and injury. Secretly selling baby monkies to be pets. Take your business to somewhere that cares for their animals.

If it were possible to give this place no stars I would. Disgusting.

Everything about the experience at this zoo was good except for one thing. And for that reason I give them 4 stars instead of 5. When you go to the zoo you want it to be an enjoyable experience. And elderly man with a nasty attitude makes a good experience turn bad. I don't care if you say "please" - TONE is what is important. We bought tickets for a elephant ride so we can have good memories for my mom's birthday and now the memory is partially ruined because that mean elderly worker had to get nasty with us! If the Zoo is allowing people to get ONTO the elephant for an elephant ride then we are ALREADY touching the elephant by sitting on it! And I only patted the elephant once to see what it felt like. And he had to say "Don't touch the elephant! How would you like someone to touch your butt while you're out shopping?!"
1. That is NOT relevant. The elephant is an animal. I am a human. ! There IS a difference.
2. If the elephant was going to act crazy .. dont you think it would act crazy because of someone sitting atop of it?? What is ONE little pat?? If you dont want people to touch the elephants dont let people ride them at all!!
3. Tone is everything. He simply should have said "Ma'am stop touching the elephant". (In a NICE tone).
The workers there may get tired of us visitors. and they are there working every day. But they have to remember that there are new visitors every day.
Bottom line - let people have a good experience and good memories. Dont ruin the experience with a nasty attitude. !
Please fire this man. Every guest deserves a good experience full circle.
By the way the alligator could use more room to move around.

Other than that one man during the elephant ride I enjoyed everything. There was a HUGE variety of animals here. I loved the lemers and the bird walk through the most I think. The birds fly all over you and it is so fun. And a giraffe ate food from a bag that we held out for it.

This place is awsome and a lot of Interaction with the animals.

Dead animals laying on the ground I wish I could rate it -100

I have visited this zoo in the past, and though it needed help with some of the enclosures I had hopes they could do well. However October 5th 2020 they posted a photo of their elephant with a trump/pence banner. Showing their support for trump and encouraging others vote that way.

Businesses should never promote their political beliefs and be open to all customers.

DO NOT give these people your money. They have recurring violations for animal abuse and unsanitary conditions. If you love animals don't visit. Please report the zoo to the USDA.