zoo in forest park

Is really nice to have this type of places in the middle of the cities, that people can go and have a great time with their young ones. Yes it needs a little more attention with the enclosures for some of the animals, like the bird cage for the owls. They need to stretch their wings, this was the only part I didn't like, everything else was ok.

I have given this a very good mainly because it is a fun, safe destination to take young kids to and is set in an amazing park: Forest Park is extensive and has a lot of interesting areas to explore with play areas, duck pond, sports fields, tennis, picnic areas etc. I would recommend spending a day at the park, with a picnic and then visiting the zoo when you are there. Alternatively you can drive there for an afternoon or a couple of hours. The zoo is quite small but for me it's the right size for young kids. For reference, it took us a couple of hours to walk around looking at the animals before the kids got restless, and by then we had finished seeing everything.The zoo has a good range of animals including camels, monkeys, bears, bobcats, leopards, alligators, ponies, lemurs, parrots, rabbits, goats, pigs etc. You can feed the goats and other animals whose pens are connected to the barn. You can buy food for a quarter in the barn. It's not too expensive to get into the zoo either and fewer than 5s are free. You can buy a ticket for the park train when you buy your zoo entry ticket. It's a small 'train' that drives around the area of the park near the zoo and is something else to entertain the kids.There are toilet facilities before you go into the zoo.

Great day at the zoo with the whole family (including two teens). The animals were great, the staff was knowledgeable, and the train ride was fun. It's not a large zoo, but there are plenty of animals to see. They had a 12 week old tiger which was so cute. You can see that they animals are well cared for, and we took plenty of pictures!

Spent a great day at the zoo today, they where in process of filming for a movie also! Kids had a ton of fun ages 7 and 9!

Nice little zoo, perfect for families with toddlers, just the right amount of animals and space for their little legs. Nice staff. Also a plus is the park the zoo is surrounded by. It has a water park, and a few nice play areas for the kids.

If your looking for a place to bring the grand kids for the afternoon. This is the place. We had a great time and also took a ride on the train.

I like to ride my Trike thru the park, it is usually quiet but at times like on the weekends you have a lot of pickiners children running around. I prefer the other side of the park in the old days Hippie Hill my girl and I like to walk along the brook and feed the fish. I have seen deer turkeys and other wildlife still around there.

We were not impressed. The animals enclosures are way to small. My daughter left in tears because of the bears who were crammed into small cages with cement floors.

Last time I was at Forest Park zoo, the monkey house was still there...and it smelled like a monkey house. Now they have animals in the round outdoors in a pleasant atmosphere. Some cages were a bit grown over, but overall I thought they did a reasonable job. They work hard here, and appear shorthanded. Nice collection of animals and they looked clean. My partner was a bit disappointed, but, she's an artist.

The Forest Park Zoo is located in Springfield, Ma. inside the Forest Park. We arrived in light drizzle, a bit disappointing, but took our granddaughter inside anyway. She got a kick out of the animals in natural enclosures, she particularly enjoyed the wallabys and peacock, who proudly showed us his feathers! We even purchased a large peacock feather in the cute gift shop as a souvenir of our visit. The zoo can be seen in an hour, a picnic lunch can be enjoyed (if weather cooperates) and the Forest Park walkways are beautiful to take in the sights of the lake and surrounding gardens. Everything was well-kept up and we enjoyed our visit.

Will go later in the season when more animals are out. They hade an Easter Egg hunt and were very friendly. It appeared to be a very clean zoo. The park surrounding was amazing!

We took our famly with our 2 year 5mo. granddaughter to this zoo and were happy to see the variety of animals and how well-kept it was. Our grannddaughter Jocelyn loved the monkeys,llamas camels ,birds and other exotic birds and animals. We all - young and old enjoyed it, I would recommend this to anyone who wants to spend a nice morning or afternoon.

I was a little shocked how amazing the zoo at Forest Park is. They had exotic animals and locals animals. Everything was very very clean and all the animals looked happy and healthy. Their little gift shop sells animal food to feed the barn animals, a long with stuffed toys, and snacks. For a gift shop it's so affordable. Great place for a day trip, it's amazing how many animals they have packed into the little corner of that park.

It amazed me they had so much crammed into one part of the park and then had numerous empty pins. It was more like a petting zoo on steriods. Not worth visiting.

We had a great time visiting all the animals. Lots of different kinds that you don't always see. You could get very close to the animals for a good look and all the kids could see. There were even babies that were born at the zoo. Very cute and the park itself has more to offer... gardens, playgrounds, a splash pad and pool. Not sure about fees for that. But there was a little train that takes you around the grounds. A bit pricey...$4 per person..