Askos Stone Park — Attraction in Zakynthos Municipality

How can people enjoy this cruelty? The animals are clearly living a miserable life here, I cannot believe the tourists leaving positive reviews on this place. Surely anyone visiting has an interest in animals so how this does not affect them seeing the animals in such disarray is beyond me. Firstly, none of the animals have any drinking water - they looked dehydrated and exhausted and completely unhappy and I’m not surprised. My heart aches for them as there was nothing we could do but try and give them water from our bottles. They have absolutely no shelter at all in blistering heat and many of the animals have sores and open wounds that are bleeding and have maggots and flies feeding on them. Absolutely disgusting. The raccoon was in a tiny cage and looked like he had to perform for his only food source which was given to tourists so he could feed from our hands. He looked sad and desperately fed up. I just wanted to take him out of there and take him back home to England. The donkey was in a terrible state, bleeding and whining in discomfort and probable pain with his open wounds and maggots feeding on him. The pony was in a similar position with peacocks constantly pecking him and all the while he couldn’t move or go anywhere as he was tied up. This was just the most awful horrendous place and I just wanted to cry for the animals and save them. €24 entry fee and I can bet none of this goes towards the welfare of the animals or the upkeep of the grounds. Staff were miserable and looked like they were there simply for the wage and not because they have any passion for animals in any way. I left absolutely disgusted and heartbroken for the poor animals. If you have a heart...

The park is situated in a nice little mountain valley. The basic premise of the park is that the animals 'roam free' and that you walk around it. For the deer and some other animals this works and is nice to see. There are a lot of plants and trees with name signs. The pathway you have to follow has a lot of shade but is rocky and not for people who have trouble walking.

When we visited the park we got a leaflet with some nice photos of the park and animals. It seems the park has seen better days.

The bunny in the beginnen of the park is in a cage that is definately not for a bunny. There was only one raccoon and we got to give it a 'treat'. The raccoon is used to this and looked very stressed. There was also no food and water visible. The pond for the ducks was empty (unlike the photo in the leaflet) and there were no pigeons or chinchillas. Some turtles were in a small pond which looked more like an algea farm than a nice pond for the animals. Overall the cages for the animals looked selfmade and not of good quality.

All in all it took us about an hour to see the park.

Again, the premise is good but the execution is not up to standards in comparison to real zoo's.

If you have nothing to do maybe your visit and money would help the park do better. Otherwise I would just skip it...

Highlight of our holiday in Zante! We hired a car to get to Askos stone park and it was such an easy going experience from start to finish. If you don’t have kids it’s best to get there early. We arrived at 10:30am and there was hardly anyone there. We were so happy feeding the deers they’re the most gentle animals, we got to see the tortoises up close too and give them some leaves to munch on. The ladies who worked there got us so involved and were so kind & helpful. The lady at the ticket desk was welcoming, gave us a map and showed us the way to the next lady who was so kind she gave us a bottle of water each and allows you to use their toilets before you make your way around the park. They warn you to not tough the animals especially the deers as they are protecting their babies and can be a bit shy. Let them wonder around you and come up to you. They are gorgeous up close. The next lady let’s you feed the male deers with the food they provide. This was the best part! They’re so gentle🤗. Then you follow the map around the rest of the park where you get to see the donkey, raccoons, peacocks, pony, goats, different trees & more. We highly recommend coming here when you visit Zakynthos island. You...