Irvine Park Zoo — Attraction in Chippewa Falls

First Time Visit

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Park is only open during daylight hours. PLEASE WATCH YOUR PROPERTY. Put your valuables out of sight-like in your trunk, and lock the vehicle. NO GUNS, ALCOHOL, OR OTHER CONTRABAND. This is a public park with children and animals. Please behave appropriately. PLEASE WATCH YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR ANIMALS, YOUR FOOD AND DRINKS, AND CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELVES. While there, my girlfriend and I witnessed a young boy drink out of a random cup left on a bench while his mother wasn't paying attention. Her parenting aside, ALL CHILDREN ARE CURIOUS. AND LIKE CHILDREN, ANIMALS DON'T KNOW BETTER EITHER. THEY MIGHT TRY STICKING IT IN THEIR MOUTH TOO. Don't leave food, drinks, or general trash around please. YOU CAN BRING YOUR DOG OR WHATEVER PET YOU HAVE, but THEY MUST BE LEASHED/MONITORED AT ALL TIMES, AND there are certain areas they are NOT allowed to be. DO NOT feed ANY animal at the park except your own. They get their own food that's special for them. Human food can be bad for animals, like chocolate for dogs. I'm not an expert on animals, but the animals here DO NOT seem stressed. There seems to be enough space available for each animal. There are NO signs of overcrowded cages or conflict between animals. Animals From large South African rodents to Bengali tigers; there were turtles, hyenas, bears, some kind of large cat and even various birds. A large fenced off grazing area included a hill or two with a small plain and some small bodies of water. I believe buffalo, bison, and various other animals that I may not have seen are there. The scenic drive goes around this area. THERE IS A FREE PETTING ZOO, located by a small red barn-type structure. There are a few sheep, two hogs, a mini-pony, a mule, some goats, and maybe a few others that may not have been outside. THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE WHERE I SAW PARK STAFF, there was a lady hosing down the floors inside. This is all I saw before the doors were closed. I've included some photos, which may not be the best quality; I mostly took videos.

Park Facilities and Structures Plenty of places to park. There's a scenic drive embedded within the park, with various turn-offs and parking spots. Hiking trails and picnic areas are scattered throughout. Beautiful places to walk around, and a part of the park not accessible to the public BY VEHICLE, I'm sure you can walk down that side though. Outside the facility, there is a fountain where turtles can be seen doing turtle things. IN the parking lot, I almost walked into a group of turkeys and A SINGLE chicken who were wandering through the parking lot-doing whatever it is they do. There is indoor and outdoor shelter for all animals, and they seem to freely move about. This includes the large animals out in the grazing fields, they have structures scattered about that provide them with food, clean water, and shelter from weather. The informational center was pretty bare. No staff to be seen. The building houses a small exhibit featuring pictures, various items, scaled down models of various buildings and structures. Over to the one side is a small auditorium type seating area with a large screen that probably play some informational material at times intervals or during tours, I didn't find out. There was an area labeled "Concessions" but that also was bare, probably used for events. The replica habitats were pretty cool, secured also by a fence surrounding the viewing area that had locking gates. The habitats themselves seemed like a good-but-limited amount of space for the animals they housed. Thick glass/plastic type viewing "walls" provided a decent viewing experience. The outdoor bird cages also seem tall and roomy at first glance, but upon further inspection they are actually small but spatially efficient.

Takeaway Beautiful and lovely park to visit if you're in the area and it's open. Bring your dog, cat, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, your kids, their friends and their kids, the book club, picnic party....

Irvine Park is a great zoo and the park are such unique spaces! My only suggestion would be to have more information on the website about the zoo. We didn't know it was free or the style of the space until we read reviews and saw for ourselves. Hopefully this will help others:

The Zoo is completely free, but donations are suggested. They have a nice smaller selection of animals (some common and some uncommon) and there are plenty of opportunities to take some wonderful photos! It doesn't take long to go through the first section - maybe 30-45 minutes, but another maybe 30-45 minutes if you take your time and see the rest. The park has a continuous road all the way around the zoo and park, so make sure you hop in the car and follow the path past the buffalo if you'd like to see all the animals!

The Park is gorgeous! Also free and it's beautifully maintained while staying wild. Great for walking, biking, kayaking, etc. There are picnic areas and a huge playground with plenty of room for everyone. There's also a pond with a fun spitting turtle fountain and a a little gazebo on the water. There are some wild waterfowl to watch and ducklings out and about. Very relaxing!

There is also a Visitor's Center, but they were closed when we went both days. I can't speak for anything about what they have since we missed them, but there is an Olson's Ice Cream sign outside with concession stand.

The Irvine Zoo and Park close at dusk, so it's a great way to spend the day! So absolutely...

The exotic animals this park has purchased look neglected. Overweight, too hot, and not enough room for exercise. The enclosures are way to small and the animals are always sleeping. Theres not nearly enough room for any of the animals to get proper exercise, let alone pools for the larger animals to cool off in. The smaller animals like the Lemurs and monkeys, seem over crowded and dont have enough room to climb. The newest set of birds theyve brought in (the african eagle and crows) are clearly distressed. The eagle we watched 2 days in a row struggle to get around the enclosure. The poor guy kept getting his wings stuck in his perches. I suppose i grew up in TN, where the enclosures at the Memphis zoo were large enough to nurture the needs of the larger animals. From what i understand, Irvine has 2 or 3 Tigers. And their encloser here is about a quarter of the size of the one in Memphis. I understand maybe the funding isnt there? But then i dont agree that you should be purchasing animals to put on display while theyre locked up in a glorfied jail cell, if you dont have the funds to provide the animals with their most basic of needs. Buffalo for example, heard for miles and miles, and it looks like they have about a quarter of a mile circumference to roam.

The only good thing about this park is the nature trails, and the playground areas. Even the ducks and the local farm animals have larger spaces to roam and cool off in. Wake up...