Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo — Attraction in Gainesville

Santa Fe Zoo is an excellent hidden treasure in the Alachua and Gainesville areas that deserves a lot of love. My mother and I drove up as part of our little getaway trip we've planned for quite a while, the main reason for our visit was for my plan to enroll there in the near future as part of my goal to become a full time Zookeeper through their program after my internship supervisor over at ZooTampa recommeneded them to me.

I took the potential student tour today at noon which was guided by Melissa and one of the students, Sarah. Both were very nice people and a wealth of information about the whole zoo and the program. Despite the small size of the zoo, their collection of animals is very impressive ranging from reptiles such as the Gators and Snakes, birds such as the Kookaburra and Emus all the way up to the mammals mammals such as Nyalas and Gibbons. They were all very well taken care of and lovingly treated by both employees and students from the college which is who makes up a majority of their staff, they all share the same passion as me informing with animals and I'm thankful for that.

All in all, I'm very happy I got to see this place in person after hearing so many great things about it from my supervisor and many others in the Gainesville and Alachua areas. I can proudly say that I highly recommend stopping by when you get the chance, I look forward to returning very soon to join their program and fulfill my lifelong dreams of working with...

My husband and I are both Santa fe graduates. While in college we never visited the zoo, but now with a 21 month old boy that will be turning 2 in June I started looking at places for his birthday party. A few people recommend the Santa fe zoo, so last Thursday(very rainy day) my mother in law, my baby and I went to take a look at what their options were for a birthday party. I called ahead to make sure they were open since it was raining and also to make sure there was someone that could show us the gazebo and explain their birthday party plans. The person I talked to said they were open and there was somebody that could talk to us. So, we went ahead and got there and standing under the rain we said we would like to take a quick look at the gazebo... the girl at the front desk proceed to say "ok, it is $16" to which we responded what?????? We have to pay to look at the gazebo for a possible bday party???!!! On a rainy day??? Absolutely not! She said, let me ask my manager. She came back saying, yes you have to pay. Needless to say we turn around and left, obviously they won't be getting my business. Such lack of customer service! Sad to learn that this is how alumni are...

Visited this zoo with my husband on a Sunday afternoon. Admission was $5 for each of us since I'm a UF employee and he's a veteran. Patricia at the desk was very helpful and assisted with giving us directions to the parking lot since we ended up in lot 11 near the business ed buildings. Also, even if they close at 3pm, last visitors allowed entry is at 230pm. Bathrooms were clean and the zoo itself seemed well-kept. It was a colder day in the low 60s so there weren't as many animals out as when it's hotter. Lost 1 star for the reptile / herp area since it was hard to see the frogs through the dirty glass. Also one snake tank had a huge crack on the glass which was kinda concerning. Glass seems thick enough to not collapse, but still visually alarming. Employees were friendly and accommodating. Overall positive first experience for our first time...