Bramble Park Zoo — Attraction in Lake Township

I used to love zoos when I was little. However, now that i’m older and more educated, I know that what I seen here was awful.

The large cats did nothing out pace back and forth over and over. It was sickening. Large cats walk miles a day patrolling their territories. Yet these ones don’t even get an area near as large as my own tiny yard in my town.

The large fresh water fish get a tiny itty bitty little tank. My betta fish have more room to swim than them. I don’t care that they’re just fish, they’re living animals that would normally have an entire lake to swim through. There is way more empty wall space surrounding all the tanks that could’ve been used for them.

I understand that most of these animals are either rescued, were injured, or were already born into captivity. By the way, no animals should ever be born into a zoo. Anyways, I get that a lot of these animals can’t be returned to the wild. But why is it that there is more space for humans there than the animals?

The parking lot is bigger than most of the enclosures. You could put all the large cats into the parking lot and still have more room. There is so much empty/open space for us people to walk around, space that isn’t getting used for anything. Why isn’t more of that dedicated towards their enclosures? Why is there more playground space for children than for the animals like the monkeys?

I myself own a bearded dragon, so I can say with the most absolute certainty that the one they have there doesn’t have half the things it needs. The tank is too small, yet there is about 10 feet all around the tank just for people to walk around. I even asked reptile experts and enthusiasts who agreed with me that the bearded dragon alone isn’t properly taken care of.

Zoos are okay when they dedicate the needed space to the animals. It’s nice being able to go there and learn about all these amazing animals. But it’s utter nonsense when most of the space is for us. A zoo should be a sanctuary for an animal if it can no longer be released into the wild, but they should be given way more of what they need.

I will admit, aside from the lack of effort towards the animals habitats, the rest of the park is better than most zoos i’ve been to. People were nice and areas were kept clean. There’s a lot to see. The history isn’t something you often see in zoos so it adds a nice touch and I didn’t enjoy that.

However, nice and clean doesn’t make up for the rest of what I said.

It was so sad to see these magnificent creatures look so distraught and unhappy. This zoo would be better if they just cared more about...

Bramble Park Zoo was a lot of fun! We saw animals that our local zoo does not have, and the exhibits were fascinating because you were close to the animals. I was continually surprised and impressed by the exhibits for that reason. The animals looked healthy to my untrained eyes, as well. It was a smaller zoo, which worked well for our family, as it was an extremely hot day and we were able to complete walking through in about 2 hours. Take quarters for the food machines (farm animals and ducks- 50¢ per serving). Feeding the barn animals was really enjoyed by our family. Also, they had several neat exhibits, including aquariums inside the main entrance building, so be sure to not overlook those. We saw one soda/water vending machine which cost $2 for a bottle of water. We did not see a concession stand in the zoo, but there appeared to be a small one at the entrance building. The zoo also had some misting water at a few places on the path. That was greatly appreciated! One thing I noticed were some picnic tables by the kangaroo exhibit. I'm not sure, but I presume the zoo allows picnicking there, which would be a...

I love the zoo, I really do; but I believe something needs to change. I know they have the mist sprinklers, and that's awesome! But I think a few thing's should change. They should bring back the mining activity. They should definitely have more in the shops, and they should definitely change the animals exhibits. Nothing has changed exhibit wise, as far as improvements should be.

I get they love the animals, and take care of them, but everything is super old and needs to be changed. Welfare should be above and beyond in zoos, and this just doesn't cut it. The animals pace, and lay around, because there's not much else to do. The snapping turtle has little to no room to move, as do most animals, but that one is really sad.

I have loved this zoo for almost two decades, and I know funds are low. I feel like more items in the shops/etc would help that. I've already bought plaques for my family for the zoo, and I hope there's more options, more varieties to gain income to help fix this zoo.

It's still beautiful, still great, but still needs a change starting with more room for...