Luray Zoo - A Rescue Zoo — Attraction in Luray

I visited the zoo in August of 2012, and was upset with what I saw. I drove up there to see the snake collection, because I had heard it was the best in VA. When I got there, I found there certainly was a large collection of snakes... almost none of which are healthy. I am not sure how to gauge the weight of venomous snakes by looking, but they all appeared quite thin. Some barely breathed when I watched them, even for 30+ seconds, basically indicating that they were feeling lethargic (even for a snake). Most of the snakes didn't have any sort of log or hide box to escape into, and many had too little water in their dishes. The enclosures were dirty. Worst of all were the skin problems-- there were a large number of snakes there which were shedding poorly, with strips of old skin still clinging to their bodies, indicating the humidity is way too low for them. One individual had so many pieces of old skin still stuck to it that it basically had not shed at all, and until I saw it breathe I thought this may have been a dessicated carcass rather than a living snake-- that's how bad it looked. The zoo has a pair of large pythons-- a reticulated python and a burmese. Both appeared to be lacking muscle tone. Since Mark, the owner, is the only person who handles the snakes, there shouldn't have been any large pythons there anyway as these require more than one person to handle due to weighing in excess of 200 lbs. Furthermore, the reticulated python had almost no water. The burm had strips of skin stuck to it, again indicating that humidity is too low. Such low humidity will harm and can kill snakes.

The problems did not end with the snakes. There is a single Bengal tiger on exhibit. This animal was, in my opinion, quite skinny for a tiger of that size; it was not emaciated, but clearly had little muscle mass and was therefore not being fed and exercised enough. One of the gray parrots on display was sitting with fluffed feathers, a common sign of illness in birds. There was a dove exhibit with way too many birds for the space they were given. One was sitting on the ground and I suspect it was sick. The whole zoo smelled, indicating that cleaning was not exactly meticulous (I know animals can smell, but zoos are generally kept as pristine as possible as the animals are on public display).

I suspect this zoo is broke. The "bathrooms", for instance (a pair of port-a-john's) had no hand sanitizer. A quick look at the gift shop reveals nearly empty soda refrigerators. I spoke to Mark, the owner of the zoo, and basically played dumb, acting like I know little about caring for snakes or other exotics and letting him talk. My impression is that I was talking to a man who had some passion for snakes but had become embittered and, finally, broke (I didn't ask him about the history of the zoo; this is my subjective impression, based on how he talked about the snakes, the zoo, and the visitors). I suspect he had enthusiasm at one point, but through a combination of ignorance (he said his knowledge of how to handle and care for venomous snakes came from his mother, who had kept snakes; he may never have gone to the trouble of researching them further, believing the skills he'd learned to be adequate), apathy (no matter how broke you are, you can still clean the poo out and put water in the dishes), and financial problems, basically gave up on trying to care properly for the zoo animals. I feel sorry both for him and the animals stuck in his care; the whole situation is just sad. There are some enthusiasts out there who keep venomous snakes, and it would be nice if some responsible zoos and private owners could take at least some of...

We did the Discovery Tour. We signed up a few days out for this tour by calling on the phone. They like to keep it private so whenever someone calls and makes a reservation that person/people get the spot for that day whether it is one person or a group of 15 people. It is best to go in smaller groups so the animals do not get tired out of being petted on or fed he told us though. The tour is given by the owner, Mark. He was very knowledgeable about the animals. He was a great tour guide and the best we have ever had as a guide anywhere whether it was in a zoo, aquarium, etc. We started the tour in the gift shop with the owner telling us about himself and the history of where the zoo used to be located and where it went after that and how it ended up in Luray. He also talked about how he bought it, his history with animals since he was a boy, etc. We loved his personality because he is truly an animal lover and rescues them and knows all of them individually (their personalities) and how to treat them properly, when it is best to feed them, and most importantly making sure he is the dominate species so he can interact with them, etc.

The zoo is not huge. It is a rescue zoo after all so just keep that in mind. However, our tour lasted just about 2 hours from the interactions we got to do with some of the animals, him talking to us about the zoo, its animals, and his experience with animals in general, and we asked questions too. We got to see snakes be fed mice and rats pretty early on in the tour. They feed them at night so people on the tour get to see it. I am not a snake lover at all so I didn’t really care for this part. I am not much fan of reptiles in general.

Our interactions: feed and pet a wallaby, feed and pet goats, feed a lemur bananas in his cage meaning we actually went in the cage and stood there and the owner put banana slices on a toothpick and you hold it out and the lemur takes it with his hands and eats it then you give him another one, we each fed a Bengal tiger several cuts of beef through his cage using a metal instrument, we got to toss peanuts to monkeys, and we got to interact/pet a porcupine. The porcupine, Snuggles, was all about being petted and loved smelling our shoes. Our guide said because shoes tell a lot and there are a a lot of smells on the shoes. Maybe it smelled our cats as well since our girls rub all over our shoes.

I don’t want to give too much else away but I loved each and every one of those interactions with the animals. I was very hesitant with the porcupine but you really just have to be gentle and we pet her under her chin. Make sure you don’t move fast or she will get a little scared and that scared me when that first happened. Next time I think I will be braver and pet her more than once. Each interaction was very special. The only thing I had done before was feed the goats but I love feeding goats. I feed goats at every zoo or farm I go to that you are allowed to feed them. Hahaha. I am a kid at heart.

They have a great gift shop that is perfect for kids.

We absolutely loved this tour. It was the best way to go to a zoo we think after experiencing this. We would definitely go back again if we are back in the area visiting in the future. The tour was $25 dollars a person which we think is worth much more because it is so amazing and you get to have so many new/interactive experiences that are unique and most of these you can’t get anywhere else. We were told people come back here to do the tour again, that there are several regulars. We hope to be...

This is a really, really nice small zoo. Actually, I have been to many other larger municipal zoos which are not as nice as this one. It's a rescue zoo, so (as I understand) most/many of the animals in the zoo were abandoned by folks not interested in keeping their exotic pets any more...However, I rate the zoo as "Okay" for one very simple reason: ZOO GUY!

Yes, the only "downer" in the zoo is the actual owner...he is very confrontational and is quick to dispel any ideas/thoughts which he thinks are not correct (usually you will not even know he's around, until he goes-off on you, or your toddler child...yes, toddler child)...example: Four year old child points at King Cobra and says "Snake look mean Da Da!"...Zoo Guy magically appears from nowhere, and then springs into action: "Snakes are not mean, they are products of their environment. People are mean, kids who call snakes mean are bad kids and need to be spanked...you should learn more about snakes...you are so wrong, and misinformed little guy" (walking off shaking head in disgust)...Ok, you get the idea. I've been to the zoo several times, and I swear this guy probably spends half his day constantly negatively accosting patrons about their absolute ignorance about the zoo's animals...pretty annoying...would love to close and lock the door on him while he's in the tiger cage, but that would not be a nice thing to do to the tiger...

Zoo Guy also has a crazy negative perception/obsession about domestic animals...namely cats; and he's not afraid to let you know about it either... One day I visited and he had a domestic cat in a small cage with a sign in front of it which stated that domestic cats are responsible for more death and destruction than all animals in the world combined (no, really)..say what?

One day I asked Zoo Guy if he had ever been to any of the exotic places where his animals are from...he immediately answers "hell no...I could care less about going anywhere...". Nice, so zoo guy is not only unapproachable, he's small mined and unworldly too...surely, Zoo Guy will probably not be nominate for "Most Interesting Man in the World" anytime soon...

So, don't get me wrong, this is a nice place, and overall Zoo Guy does a great job with the zoo ...however, if you do visit be forewarned to stay clear of the zoo's most obnoxious, ornery and petulant creature...you got...