Columbian Park Zoo — Attraction in Lafayette

Read this before going to this “zoo”. Summarized for easy reading

Longtime visitor and supporter: •Visited the zoo frequently since 2021, held a membership for four years, and spent close to $1000 on experiences, rides, and gift shop purchases.

Disappointing job application experience: •Applied for a part-time position out of passion for animals. •Repeatedly ignored by the assistant director and director. •Told verbally that they only hire from within, despite public job postings. •Accused of lying when bringing up this issue—no apology or accountability from leadership.

Frustrating animal experience booking: •Paid for an animal encounter but was never able to book it. •Poor communication and lack of customer support from staff. •Offered a refund instead of actual help or service. •Told to reach out again next month, despite having already paid and reached out several times.

Unprofessional leadership: •Director and assistant director displayed rudeness, arrogance, and poor customer service. •No regard for the loyalty or money invested by long-time members.

Concerns about animal welfare: •Otter exhibit was leaking and potentially dangerous. •Some animals appear malnourished or neglected (e.g., visible rib cage on wild dog). •Staff seem disinterested or inattentive to animals' needs. Example: A bleeding goat went unnoticed until we alerted staff.

Final takeaway: The zoo shows a lack of care for both its visitors and animals. Instead of addressing concerns, leadership avoids accountability. Reconsider...

We live over an hour away from this park...and make the drive 3 or 4 times every summer to enjoy this wonderful park. Sure..the town we live in has quite a few decent parks...but Columnian Park blows them out of the water. First off...this park is extremely well maintained. I have never even seen litter anywhere. From the flowers to the pavement to the play equipment...everything looks practically new. We always start off at the pool which isn't that amazing in itself...but it is nice, it's part of the park, and very reasonably priced. The snack place has standard snack fare at a reasonable price. Then...we always head over to the free petting zoo. For a free petting zoo...this place is amazing. Sometimes some of the animals are not out...but today they were all out. Walabys, prairie dogs, a porcupine, monkeys, lamas, vulture, owls, pigs, donkeys, a butterfly exhibit, and all the goats you will ever want to pet. Then we catch a ride on the train. It's like $1.50 a ticket and rides all around the park. The kids love it. Then we head over to the massive playground. The main area sits atop a big hill which you can get to by a bridge...or just walk up the hill. All around the hill are a variety of different play areas that have different themes and are geared to different ages. We were there for 5 hours today and spend less than $30. We will be...

So be very aware everyone with kids. There was a group of abductors spread out throughout the zoo and followed us throughout the entire park. There was always a guy lurking at us from the bridge when we were in the pedal boat . The playground is when it started getting pretty noticable and put us on alert. When we were leaving, they positioned a guy in between my gf and I . He was on his phone communicating with someone else giving them updates on us . So we avoided going straight to the car. I caught back up to my gf and as we were walking he was coming up behind us closer and quicker to the point we booked it for the park again to get into a public setting. Please please please be aware of your surroundings and have those serious and hard convos with your kids. We dodged a bullet 100%. You can too if you're on high alert. The place was packed and it can be a bit overwhelming and it only takes one second for you to look away for something terrible to happen. I counted at 6 or 7 that felt were sus. Be careful!!!! ❤️ To...