Spring River Zoo — Attraction in Roswell

I went to this zoo a couple years ago during a road trip from LA to Chicago. My Dad remembered being able to hear Lions roaring from the zoo at his grandparents house in Roswell, so we decided to stop by and see if the zoo was still there. Let me tell you, that was a GREAT decision.

First off the zoo is free which I am huge supporter of. It is certainly a small zoo with outdated cages and exhibits, which at first glance seem depressing for the animals and not in their best interests. However, I very quickly found that almost all of the animals there were very happy and playful. Many interacted with us as we watched them, there were no animals pacing back and forth the same pattern over and over again, and somehow I could just sense that they were happy. In some of the most elaborate exhibits I've seen at big city zoos, the animals just sit looking depressed or walk back and forth looking at the wall, but in Roswell despite many cages simply being a chain link fence or an oversized bird cage, the animals seemed to love life.

There was a great Llama that loved interacting with us, a bunch of ponies that ran around and played with each other the whole time and some majestic longhorns watching the ponies play. There are many animals you find in America, including Bison, a variety of foxes, bobcats, Mountain Lions, Coyotes, Antelope, Bald Eagles, Hawks, Owls, and free-roaming Peacocks.

There was also a cool old-fashioned playground right outside the zoo with a rocket ship slide. Perfect...

Beautiful little park and zoo. It's free so you can't complain. The animals are very, very friendly and appear to be very well taken care of. Their habitats and pens are very clean and the entire area is very clean and tidy. A complete contrast to Clovis' Hillcrest Park Zoo.

One of the little muntjac deer walked right up to the fence and stuck her little nose out and my wife, being who she is, started petting her and scratching her behind the ear and she just melted. When we went to the antelope and goat pen, the same thing happened. The bounded right up to the fence and stared at us. I had a bag of sunflower seed kernels and the goat and antelope licked them up right out of my hand. Very friendly and socialized.

I also enjoyed the information signs along the walkway through the zoo highlighting the different aspects that make up good moral character. The idea of character seems to be lost on society nowadays and it made me happy to see at least something trying to teach kids what 'character' is and means.

There is also a little train ride that goes around the park and a very large merry-go-round. Tickets are only 25 cents apiece. It was a very fun afternoon with my 2 year old daughter, and for fifty cents total - I mean, come on, man. It's impossible to find that sort of...

I read the reviews before we went, and they seemed to be mixed. My overall impression now that we've gone is that if you go with low expectations, you might be pleasantly surprised. We were there around 10am on a Saturday, and were super disappointed that the bears and mountain lions weren't out, because it seems like they are the highlight of the zoo. The other animals are fun to see, but not as cool. However, just as we were finishing the loop, a worker drove by in a golf cart and told us he was about to go feed the bears if we wanted to come watch. He dumped a bunch of fruit, veggies, and pebble food, then opened a door and they came out. Then he dumped raw hamburger in the mountain lion cage and they came running out, too. Watching them all eat was really fun. The carousel and train are super fun for little kids, too, and soooo inexpensive (50 cents per ride, with ages 5 and under free). Overall, for being a free zoo, we thought this was a great activity for our family. We'll likely go again sometime. I recommend finding out what time they'll be feeding the big animals and...