buttonwood park zoo

Nothing very interesting or exciting here. They talk all the time about expanding while they can't really take care of the property they have now.

Small and very affordable. Obviously well loved by it's community. Great variety of animals. They were in full Halloween glory with Zoo Boo. Very family and children oriented. The elephants were wonderful. They obviously love their keepers. They follow around their keepers like puppies!

The zoo was very tiny, but we did an elephant encounter where you get to go behind the normal fence and interact with the elephants and there keepers really cool, totally worth the extra money !!!

Surprisingly wonderful zoo in the middle of Buttonwood Park. My son loved the animal themed carousel almost as much as the animals themselves. Exhibits are well done with a large variety of species. Very affordable and was a great way to spend an afternoon.

My father is an amateur zoologist, so I grew up visiting different zoos across the country throughout my childhood. It is still a favorite pastime!While the Buttonwood Park zoo is small, it is a fun visit with children. In addition to otters, seals, and beavers, a visitor will see a Lynx, Bobcat, Cougar, American Eagle, Black Bears, reptiles and fish, and more. There is an exhibit on protecting our natural environment that was well done. In the back of the exhibit you will see horses, goats, sheep, chickens, and pigs. This might be the only opportunity to see these animals for some kids.I've read reviews about the treatment of the elephants at the Zoo, but I have also heard conflicting information on whether or not the animals are actually in danger. The people who wish to see them moved are NOT animal experts. The elephants have been at the zoo for a long time, and have bonded with the site and their caretakers. Moving them would be very traumatic for the elderly elephant. Numerous zoologists have recommended that the elephants stay in New Bedford. I'm not an expert, but their arguments make sense.In the meantime, on the day we visited the elephant exhibit was clean and the elephants appeared to be healthy. The kids loved seeing these majestic creatures!

They still use bull hooks on poor Ruth, elderly elephant to make her walk faster, as was videotaped. There is an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee that has offered to take her. It's warm and she won't be subjected to anymore harsh New England weather. She got frostbite last winter. The elephant enclosure is inadequate. ALSO, the lynx spends every waking moment alone. It's a sad place.

Very disturbing elephant exhibit. The fact that this zoo has been offered to retire their two senior elephants to a 2,500 acre professional elephant sanctuary and they turned it down, shows that they only care about $$. Ruth their eldest elephant was left outside in a blizzard in Jan 2014 resulting is severe frostbite and hypothermia. Emily and Ruth do not get along. Emily bit 5 inches off Ruth's tail and has zoo documented records of Emily ramming into Ruth. Yet they still make these two girls suffer in such a miserable environment. DON'T teach your children that this is ok.

I brought my 6 and 7 year Olds here. It was raining that day but still had a good time. It really is a sweet sweet place to go. The small train ride was a nice way to see the park. The carousel is beautiful. The zoo is quite small and it takes about a good 40 minutes or less to see everything. The elephants are beautiful. The gift shop has a nice assortment of goods from cute and cuddly plushies to educational toys. Staff was very nice.

Small zoo but its very nice. I did the elephant animal encounter with my parents and LOVED it! It doesn't cost very much especially since the cost of getting into the zoo is very cheap and it is a great experience. We got to feed and touch the elephants as well as learn a lot of information about Emily and Ruth and Asian elephants that I didn't know before! Friendly and knowledgeable staff!

Tiny little elephant exhibit with two very old elephants who can barely move around--and not just because the exhibit is sooo small. They are lame from just standing around. Elephants need more space. The keepers don't talk about letting the elephants go to a Sanctuary--too bad. Instead people just go and stare at the elephants for a couple minutes, and don't really learn about elephants' natural environment.Also, the cougar is very thin, and constantly pacing and panting. There's no water dispenser for him, and his back abdomen looks like there's something wrong with him. They just got him a couple years ago, but he's walking slow, too. The lynx was nowhere to be found, and he's been alone for years. Mammals, especially cats, need a companion.The aquatic center has an exhibit that's been closed for so long (a year?), it now has a curtain up around it. And they have two poor little scared screech owls that never get to see the night sky. Only one was visible today, hope the other one was okay.If you go, tell them to retire the elephants to a Sanctuary and to fix up the exhibits so that all of the animals have a steady supply of fresh water and adequate room.

I will never visit the Buttonwood Park Zoo even though I live in Massachusetts. Elephants are social creatures that belong with their herd. They have suffered enough in their lifetime in circuses and zoos around the world for our selfish entertainment. Send them to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee to be with their sisters to roam and enjoy what remaining years they have. Educate your children before these majestic animals become extinct.

This is a great family friendly zoo. It was clean, easily walkable and they had staff at various exhibits answering questions about the animals. Also sometimes you go to a zoo and the animals seem to be so far away, at Buttonwoods Park Zoo, the animals are really close. The only downsides were, I wish that they had a printed map to take away and a posted schedule of the talks. After exploring the zoo, we took a walk around the surrounding park. The playground was also clean and maintained well. They also have a carousel and a train ride for extra fee. The carousel ride could have been slightly longer, but the animal "horses" were beautiful. We didn't do the train ride because my daughter is still a little too young. Those who took the train ride looked like they were having fun

My wife found that they had a program featuring up close encounters with either a bear, seals, or elephants. Each of us picked our own favorite and the family ended up covering all three animals. All totally safe, and yet gave you an up-close experience I've rarely found at other zoos. The animals were amazing! In addition to feeding Toby the bear with "fruit shiskabobs" you'd place through the fence, we pet his fur and then got to fill the bear enclosure with "enrichments", treats you'd hide throughout so the bears have something to do and engage in once they let them into the enclosure. Our youngest got to feed fish to the seals, and our oldest got to feed and pet the elephants. We've been on animal encounters before, but this was very unique and very intimate (we were the only ones in the group, so it was a true one-on-one experience). This is probably also due to the smaller nature of this zoo, which lent itself to spending more time that we expected (and the fact that our daughters each got this one-on-one experience was really amazing). Lastly, the zookeeper was great...she was super engaged, knowledgeable, and took some great pictures for us. If you want to do more than just watch animals from afar and you're in the area, check this place out!

After I read some of the reviews I wasn't sure I really wanted to spend the money and time going to this place but I am so happy we did. We are traveling from Maryland and we were looking for something to do with our 2 girls a 9 month old and a 3 year old and this place was perfect of course it wasn't no Zoo like the one we had back in Baltimore but is was a really nice little Zoo and not run down at all. I would recommend to anyone with small children.

We were pleasantly surprised with this small zoo. Perfect for families with small kids - very walkable, very clean, won't break the bank. With about 20 exhibits in a park-like setting, you'll be able to spend time at each exhibit watching the animals and see it all within two hours. Leave some extra time to visit the large playground just outside the gates too.