Brian R.
Yelp
The Palm Beach Zoo is small, but has a surprisingly good representation of animals, from around the world, for its size. Unfortunately, they go through periods where they really let their physical plant, and some of the habitats suffer.
Glass enclosed habitats' water is both filthy, and algae-laden. The lagoon, behind their cafe, has a thin film of oil over it.
Many of the habitats have been modernized, but spaces, like the bald eagle enclosure, is small, and open air, and they clip the birds' wings to keep them in place.
The place is very disorganized. Monkeys monkeys everywhere.
One path the just goes off to nowhere. The Tiger enclosure has a service area in the middle of it that doesn't let on that there is another path to a second enclosure and, yes, even more monkeys.
Several exhibits are either long term closed, or inoperable with apologies signs that have been there, for a while.
The center of the zoo's entry is a splash fountain for kids. They have a small, decrepit looking carousel by the petite petting zoo.
They also have a lot of gators, and caimans, scattered. The white gator is one of the highlights of the zoo.
They have a jaguar, with a nice habitat, and some money poured into it. Too bad that maintenance of all of the physical plant keeps being put off. It makes you not want to come through here.
Food? It was getting better, a bit, before Covid. They have a nice cafe, as zoos go. Food is awful. Souvenirs are also low-thought MBA minimalist. They need to get someone good at branding in here to really kick up their too gift shops. Keeping the big one open, until park close is a problem.
Speaking of which, don't come late in the day. If close is at 5p they will shut down all services by 4:30p. The staff gets their track shoes on, and sprints like insane Usain Bolts, to get the heck out of there.
I became a member. They need all of the help that they can get to keep this place from falling further into disrepair.
Sad.