Hutchinson Zoo — Attraction in Hutchinson

This was the most sad zoo I have ever been to. I literally cried for those poor and almost couldn’t finish the trip. Thank god it is a smaller zoo and there are not more animals for them to torture. The enclosures were so dirty, overrun, and small! The poor otter was alone and his water was so dirty that you couldn’t see him in there until he bumped against the glass. There was an axolotl looking animal so stuck between the filter and glass that he was turning white from lack of circulation, who knows how long he was like that. The mini horses were so sad or lethargic that they wouldn’t even lift their heads up to look at you and the other was pacing in circles, extremely stressed. Foxes in a box no bigger than a small bedroom. Everything about that experience broke my heart. Those animals deserve better and I hope you get shut down and those animals can live out the rest of their lives in a happy place somewhere else. If I could give negative...

The Hutchinson Zoo is a beautiful facility. It is well maintained and has a full-time staff. The fact that the Zoo has free admission is astounding given the amount of attention the city and its employees give the location. Admittedly, the zoo is fairly small but the animal enclosures and interactive exhibits it does have are awesome. This is a great place to spend an afternoon with the kids. Although the Zoo is free, there is a suggested donation of $2. Don't worry, no one will hassle you for a donation, there is a simple donation box just after the entrance. When I visited, there was a good amount of construction going on in the back part of the Zoo, it was not distracting but it did make me curious what addition is coming to the Zoo. After you have finished at the Zoo, there is a small train that can be ridden for a short tour around the nearby park. The train ride last about 8 minutes and cost $3 a head. You can get a ticket in the...

Went for a friend's birthday party, where a large room was rented out. It was nicely air conditioned, and a pathway from the door led to the Zoo. Now I know that I shouldn't expect much from a (small) town, but the exhibits I did see were quite boring and unexciting. Most of the animals we saw were sleeping, (not a fault of the zoos, they just happened to be nocturnal.) However would have been nice to see some of them in action. Enclosures are quite small, which had me feeling very sorry for the animals they did have. All the water exhibits (The Avery) were absolutely filthy, horribly maintained. The paths were nice and clean, no trash anywhere around. Only saw one staff employee the whole time. We did not cover the entire zoo, mainly because the party room was rented for only 2 hours. It happened to be a very nice day, so that helped in the...