Birmingham Zoo

2630 Cahaba Rd, Birmingham, AL 35223, USA

Address:	2630 Cahaba Rd, Birmingham, AL 35223, USA
Phone:	+1 205-879-0409
Site:	birminghamzoo.com
Rating:	4.3
Working:	9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–7PM 9AM–7PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 4

Will Wilson

If I could give the Birmingham Zoo zero stars, I would. I have to first admit that, not too many years ago, I held a membership to the San Diego Zoo. I point this out because it is the holy grail of zoos. Therefore, I am a bit spoiled when it comes to a zoo. Having said that, Im just going to say a bit about my experience with the zoo and be done with it. When I was little, my parents took me to the Birmingham Zoo. I was six, had just learned to read, and remember being extremely disappointed by all of the signs that said, "exhibit temporarily closed", "under construction", or "coming soon". 22 years later, my wife suggested that we take our little girl to the Birmingham Zoo for the first time. Based on my childhood experience, I was apprehensive, but I assumed that, after 20 years, they would have finished the construction, opened up the exhibits, and gotten the new animals. Again, I was disappointed. The entrance is under construction. There are signs everywhere that say the animals arent there. There are coming soon signs throughout the zoo. When you first walk into the Zoo, there is a large childrens water-play area where the kids can run through the water shooting out of the ground... no animals. Not even the traditional flamingos. After walking about 100 yards and seeing no animals, we came to the barn. Inside the barn were a few goats, some sheep, and a hog. Walk a little further and you see two bears. Just two. A little further and you see the elephants next to the giraffes. Past that were a handful of monkeys and apes. Probably 20. There is also the hippo exhibit where there is one hippo. Aside from the two different places to eat, thats pretty much it. They have a few shows during the day, but trust me, youre probably not going to stick around to see them as you will not be there long enough to catch one. My daughter is 16 months old and we let her walk through most of the zoo. It took about two hours to walk the entire thing. That includes about 30 minutes of chasing our little girl and one trip to the bathroom to change a diaper. So, all in all, it took about an hour to walk the entire zoo where we saw, at best, 50 animals. They claim to have 950. If they do, I dont know where they were at. Do yourself a favor, take your kids to Atlanta and go to a real zoo. I understand that the Birmingham Zoo is small. That doesnt really bother me. Youll probably have to see it for yourself to believe me, but the fact is that there has obviously been very little effort into making this zoo friendly for the public. Most of the animals are hard to see. There are long walking distances of nothing between the animals. Unfortunately, there really arent that many competitors for entertainment in Birmingham. Because of this, the Birmingham Zoo has done very little in the way in becoming a quality, audience friendly zoo. In short, it is a big ole bunch of half-assery. No one to compete with so no reason to be better. Just throw some animals in a cage and say "Come look". My family would have been equally entertained by going to PetSmart.

Samuel Tanner

I live close by and my family has had a membership since my daughter was born (6 years). Although my daughter enjoys her time at the zoo, several points need addressing: 1) the zoo is small, old, and poorly laid out. One could walk through the length of the zoo (without stopping to view the animals) within 1.5 hrs. The buildings are really starting to show their age. The childrens zoo and the zebras are separated by 50 yards but due to the way the zoo is laid out, youll need to walk 500 yards to get there. 2) dont bother going to the zoo after 3pm. So many of the animals are off exhibit after 3pm due to their feeding time that it isnt worth it. 3) zoo charges full price if you get there 30 mins before closing time 4) if you are in the zoo 30 mins before closing time, 16 zoo employees are going to remind you that they close very soon so, ya know... Get out. Now. All of the buildings close 15 mins before the zoo does. All the rides and special exhibits close early as well. 5) are your kids interested in large slides, carousels, train rides, feeding the animals, riding a camel, seeing dinosaurs, viewing Halloween decorations (inflatables and poorly hand-painted wood cut outs mostly), and/or Christmas lights (unceremoniously strewn wherever)? They are?! Thatll cost extra. Lots extra. 6) It is a hot day today; want some ice water? (No, not a bottle of water, just tap water on ice.) Thatll cost you. Thats right, you have to pay for tap water. Tap. Water. 7) many animals are off-exhibit on any given day. Theres probably a legit reason for it but I dont know why. Its clear that the Birmingham Zoo wants your money and lots of it. But as the majority of their staff are volunteers, Id like to see just how all of their income is spent. I wouldnt be surprised if this business is another example of corruption and embezzlement in our fair city.

A Private User

Left me with a feeling of sorrow for the animals. The habitats for these wonderful creatures are so poorly maintained that I could hardly enjoy myself. 70% of the animals were asleep and the rest just looked bored. The tiger was beautiful but I thought underweight. He had ONE ball to play with. There was literally nothing for him to do other than sleep and walk the small perimeter that is now his life. The gorilla was pitiful, he was asleep every time we went by to check and see if he was up. My children had fun, they are 4 and 2 so they dont really understand the need for a "natural habitat". Their highlight was feeding the giraffes and riding the 10 minute train. But there is absolutely NO WAY that that zoo is putting back in to it what they are making. Almost every "teenager" who worked there was either texting or chatting with others who worked there so I know they were not doing there job...whatever that may be. Total cost for our day was around $100. We did the train, carousel, and lunch all within the park. Food is ridiculously expensive for low quality so I suggest you bring your own, you can eat out at the picnic tables located outside the park. I have seen some spectacular zoos and although I love animals being able to be in the wild with their own, I also understand the beauty of "protecting" and nourishing animals for the public to see. Its a way for us to appreciate the beauty of nature. If they were to completely redo and restructure the entire facility they might have a chance to change my opinion. For now I am totally saddened by the entire zoo.

CJRavenFan91

I really did NOT enjoy this experience. I was so shocked at how small the zoo was and that there werent many animals. I have been to the Montgomery Zoo many times and thought it was small and assumed that since Birmingham is the largest city in our state, then they must have a larger and more exciting zoo but I was VERY wrong. I guess the capital of a state usually has the largest zoo? My biggest issue with this zoo is that it didnt have many different types of animals. I would say it is 75% birds. I was thinking the whole time where is everything else. They did have an African Safari like area that did have nice animals (giraffe, elephant, etc) but the animals were so far away you can not get a good view of them from the place where zoo visitors stand. They do have a Splash Fountain for children and they LOVE it. Its a shame though if you bring your kids to a zoo to play in water. I highly recommend visiting the Montgomery Zoo and this one and you compare the two and see for yourself.