Sunrise Children's Zoo — Attraction in Waterloo

My son, daughter in law, my grandchildren, and I went to see the animals and when we arrived (at 3 pm on a Thursday), their was no person in sight. All the animals were visable, but the gate to get in was locked. According to their website they were open. It was a record breaking 102 degrees outside but we walked around the outside fence to see the animals and interact with them a bit. The horses seemed in distress in the heat. They did have a small shaded area to go to and water but no hay or food of any kind. The mule next to them had hay, and the horses were trying to get to it but couldn't. Then we noticed a wound on one of the horse's legs. It was very open and raw with flies gathered around it. The horse kept stomping to get the flies away. We called the number advertised several times but did not get anyone so we decided to call animal control to make them aware of the horse's injury. We had to leave them a message, and never got a return call. The sheep were also extremely stressed out and were panting and trying to get cool. I was very disappointed in the habitats they have these poor animals in. Small, hot, and not much food in site. They did have dirty water to drink thank God. This is just not humane! Not to mention they advertised to be open during those hours but they weren't. This place needs help. These animals need help!

I want to add that I just learned they closed until Friday due to the heat. This is even more disturbing, as the animals were there with no fresh water to get away from the...

Only giving 1 star because I had to otherwise would have got 0 from my family. Animals were in horrible conditions. The owner was there and I pointed out to her that the donkey needed fresh water it was black with algi floating in it, she was incredibly rude and said we clean then every hour and I said that wasn't cleaned an hour ago lol she said she'd have someone take care of it, I went on to feed the chickens and my sister said the owner was whispering to other volunteers and pointing at me. This place needs shut down. They had a peacock in a small cage when it spread it's feathers it wasn't even able to fully because there was no room. People were teasing animals, this place needs to be shut down. I will be there when they open again to document on a YouTube channel the care these animals receive. I will expose this place and see that it...

Animals were nice and seemed healthy. Free admission and cheap animal food a plus. Small children will enjoy themselves. Problem is one worker believes the correct way to advise children on the correct actions is to scream at them. My 12 yr old son bent over to show my 2 yr old daughter a chicken roaming and when it ran he followed for a couple steps and was immediately screamed at to stop chasing 'her' chickens. He was by no means chasing and is a very obedient child. She still found the need to scream at the top of her lungs at him. When put off by this and considering leaving the other workers could only say...'yeah. not supposed to chase the chickens' . No apologies... just that we were wrong. Not a good way for a place supposedly surviving off donations to treat children. Needless to say no donation from us...