Tupelo Buffalo Park & Zoo — Attraction in Tupelo

Pros: -Reasonably priced -Tour guide on bison tour was great—very friendly and informative -I met one of the animal caregivers, Anthony, and he was also great. Seemed to really care about the animals -You can feed the giraffes and most other hooved animals

Cons -so many of the animals just seem sad. Really. The big cats are in teeny tiny concrete enclosures where they don’t have any room to do anything. The male tiger was very distressed -the giraffes are in a VERY small enclosure (for 2 giraffes) -pretty much all of the animals are in enclosures that are way too small, including the birds. It’s just sad. -The horses and ponies used for rides just sit tethered all day until it’s time for a trail ride. -some of the sheep had not been sheared yet, and they were panting very, very heavily in the heat, laying in the shade wherever they could find it. -We didn’t know where to start or stop our tour bc the signs are unclear, and staff didn’t provide us with much direction -It took us a while to get checked in to even start our tour. Staff didn’t acknowledge us for some time but were friendly once they did

*They had signs posted about moving the tigers into a new (very large, grassy) habitat that’s currently under construction, which is great, but I wonder how long it will take. And many of the other animals also need...

Took the family to an afternoon here and had a wonderful time! The staff were very courteous and helpful when we arrived. I can’t emphasize how great the staff was when we first arrived. That first impression really made us feel welcomed. We explained to them it was our first time and they gave us great recommendations since my kids wanted to see certain animals. We got our buckets of feed and headed straight to the giraffe feeding area since the staff recommended we do that first. My kids loved feeding the giraffe! Note the giraffe eats different food than what is provided in the buckets of feed but the lady at the front desk alerted that to us as well when we arrived. Then we did the rest of the walking area of the zoo. The animals were friendly and looked well cared for. My kids loved feeding and seeing the different animals. The walking portion of the zoo also has a playground and various slides and things for kids to play on as well as looking at the animals. We will definitely come back here if we are in the Tupelo area and we might do both the driving option and then finish up with the...

The best part was the gentleman that came after a call to the gift store/ticket area to get us in to feed the camel. Was told we could only feed within an alloted time frame. We arrived at the area to feed the giraffe and waited. There was no petting zoo. Purchased 2 buckets of food to only use up 1.5 of them by throwing it in the cages. The only animals that we could somewhat feed were the miniature horses and goats. I had to actually put my hand through the fence to be able to feed them. Ended up giving the remaining food back to the not so welcoming attendant in the gift shop. We appeared to be a nuisance to her when we entered the shop as we were arriving and leaving. Arrived by 11:15 and were done by 12. I'm glad I didn't take my grandson on the drive-through part. It looked like it would have taken less time. Had I known in advance, I would spend $50 for the small amount of time we were there. We would have found an actual zoo or something...