Ross Park zoo is a great little zoo for a small town. They have an amazing selection of animals for the area that it's in. There's even lions tigers and bears. And a lot of good birds.
No wonder the Binghamton Zoo lost its AZA accreditation. The staff is extremely rude, they think they are there to joke around and text, while animals look sad and malnourished. There's not much to see or do, you can walk the Zoo in about a half hour. It's nothing like it was 20 years ago when the Zoo was alive. What a shame what its become..
My family and I had a fantastic time on 9/9/14! We scheduled the wild encounter with the red pandas in advance and had so much fun feeding them snacks by hand. We also helped with some enrichment for the day taking time to place and hide bamboo for them to find later. The red pandas Mei-Li and her son were very friendly and gentle with the kids. We were able to watch them paint as their enrichment activity for the morning. Sarah and Ian were very friendly and informative! As a group we had a lot of fun making fantastic memories with this wonderful experience! I think the price of $100 for 3 of us to interact with the red pandas was very reasonable and 15% of the payment going towards the fight of the red pandas' demise in the wild. I have been to many zoos across the US and am happy that this zoo had this opportunity available! The zoo itself is smaller but impressive as the 5th zoo in the US. I highly recommend the wild encounter to anyone interested!
This zoo has animals that most zoo's do not have. There are some of the usual but several unusual species. Play area for the kids, a snack bar and a souvenir hut. Small but fun family friendly zoo. In an area of children's activities.
I read reviews this year because I haven't gone in years, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm glad I didn't listen. This place is such a nice place to walk and learn for small children. We took my 4 year old grandson who was never at a zoo. He got to feed goats, see lions, monkeys and a bear without fighting anyone for space. I am so appreciative that there are still family places to go without a high cost and sooo very enjoyable. We had a great time, and then played in the playground. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE INVOLVED !!!!!
We recently made a return visit with my girlfriend's grandson. Like a lot of people say, it is a small zoo. You do a little bit of walking along semi-steep paths but it isn't too bad. The bigger animals (tiger, wolf, so on) seem pretty passive but then again it was pretty hot the day we went. Still a good visit to see the smaller animals. One disappoint was the penguin and otter part. I thought we would see a little more of them playing in the water. The otters were playing in the water but it was very hard to see them when we went to the observation area below the surface. Still it was a good trip and be sure to hit the free carousel on the way out.
The zoo seems like an extension of the park. When you first arrive all you see is playground so parking was a little confusing cause you have to go down the hill to get to the zoo. Not a full size zoo cause they don't have all animals but what they do have are cute. Spent about 3 hours walking around and the kids enjoyed it especially the carousel. Good deal for the price.
Other than it being extremely cold our visit went exactly according to plan! I had set up a close encounter with the red panda so my sister's boyfriend could use their painting activity to propose to my sister. She was completely surprised and it turned out amazing!
We recently made a return visit to an appreciably improved zoo. The setting is beautiful with exhibits presented on the side of a fairly significant hill. Walking shoes are essential. Recent otter pups were a real highlight. The wolfs in their expansive hill side site was well equipped observation platforms.
Binghamton is a fairly depressed area and not very populated, however you can find a quaint little zoo in this city. Ross Park Zoo is fairly simple to navigate and get around as it is primarily one large long loop with little side areas of exhibits/animals. There are not many food or shopping choices other than bare minimums. Animal Highlights include the Andean Bears, Tigers and Leopards, Red Wolves, and small Rainforest House. Cheap admission makes it a worthwhile stop if nearby but not worth a trip for only the zoo.