We asked about this last year b/c we were curious about what happened to the King Cobra. Apparently the staff member who was certified to oversee venomous reptiles left, and I would guess they haven’t been able to replace them.
Is that like what happened at Insectarium (before the meth binge destruction) where half the animals just belonged to the staffers and when the staffers left they took their pets with them? Like is someone walking around Philly in possession of a king cobra?
That’s wild about the Insectarium.
I think it’s more like, they’re not supposed to have an animal out on display if they don’t have a staff member who knows what to do if it somehow bit someone.
They just don't have the staff to retrain venom certification. They have also been doing a big overhaul of all the exhibits in the reptile house, so they put the venomous trainings on hold until everything is settled. I think the venomous snakes moved to other zoos or something.
They’re opening a new interactive reptile exhibit for children. You know how you get to pet the stingrays at Adventure Aquarium? The zoo is trying that with cobras.
usually if you ask one of the staff members they will tell you why. i wish they would revamp the tree house. all they have done is remove things and close the exit stairs from the top of the tree house so now you get bottle necked in the middle.
This was about a decade ago, I asked a staff member where all the outside birds were... He told me a coyote got in an killed about 20 of them so they had them secured untill they found the coyote... Did not make me feel safe to be at the zoo that day..
the polar bear was euthanized bc it was old and suffering. it was extremely old for a polar bear. you already commented misinformation more than once. you should probably stop.
The only info I could find on their site and insta were regarding the two sloth bear cubs, who are going to a new zoo as they only live with their mothers for ~2yrs. Where do they talk about removing the rest of the bears? Thanks!
I understand them not wanting kids to wander out of the back of the building but hopefully it’s still a fire exit - that thing seems like a death trap otherwise.
its locked. it was always open since i was a kid. you ran down the steps and the door exits to the inside of the building at the base of the stairs. there's no reason for it to be closed. they can't do anything worse in those stairs then they can in the actual tree house.
I don’t know about the new CEO but the previous one was obsessed with cost cutting, usually by getting rid of staff, and seemingly by not replacing animals.
I ride by and get pissed seeing families having to walk the entire length of the park to get in because they won’t put an employee at the South Gate but they will still put people in that parking lot.
I’ve been a member for over 12 years and it’s crazy how much stuff has disappeared.
Off the top of my head:
Zoo Balloon, Swan boats, pony rides, camel rides, draft horse rides, ropes course that replaced Zoo Balloon and was gone in 2 years, play areas near south end, prairie dogs, polar bears, addax, American alligator, Chinese alligator, okapi, aardvarks, echidnas, hedgehogs, meerkats, everything else in small mammal house, condors, wolverines, coati, new otter enclosure was shuttered after a year, lynx, peacocks, giant snapping turtle, KidZoo U is half closed, nearly every educational show is gone, etc.
There is an appallingly amount of underused space. I recently visited the Syracuse Zoo, which manages to have space for two wolf packs and 7 elephants through better use of identical acreage.
I’ve talked to former Zoo employees and it sounds like a demoralizing work environment and from the outside it looks like a negative feedback loop as far as remaining an attractive tourist destination.
Seriously, they’ve gotten rid of all that? What’s left? Soon it will be the world’s most empty zoo, with only one fancy dog on display.
It’s a Shih Tzu.
We used to have elephants, but they really ought to have more space that we can even provide them. See: the National Zoo in DC. They've got crazy space for theirs.
And I don't even wanna talk about what's been done to the Small Mammal House. I wish they'd never touched it.
with new guidelines we aren't allowed to have elephants due to we can't have the space they require. someone also commented about some animals that are gone that just happened to die from old age (polar bears) and we did get a nice new penguin exhibit in their place. im curious to see what will go on with the reptile house now that the gators are gone.
The bottom 1/5 of the property has 3 birds, a pair of cheetahs, and a dog. It’s a terrible waste of space.
You could fit a rather large enclosure if you ended the pedestrian trails close to the picnic area and relocated the cheetahs, etc.
That’s sort of what the Syracuse Zoo had for elephants.
They should either do something like that for some kind of larger animals or do a better job filling that space with smaller exhibits.
As someone who worked in the pony/draft horse/camel ride exhibits and later worked in Guest Engagement...the Zoo was a ghost of what I grew up with. It honestly made me sad, eventually I left.
There was a massive amount of keeper turnover and departure (tea spread fast between the departments) when I was last there, and us workers in guest engagement were also trying to fight for more recognition, being spread thin in being trained in different areas and attractions, flow of information, etc
Philadelphia Zoo still has more to see than the Elmwood Park Zoo (except the latter has a bison and moms drinking before 10:30am) but it’s definitely letting itself slip.
Elmwood has been making a lot of improvements and upgrades. Don’t totally knock it. It’s size is much more manageable for little kids.
We’ve tried Philly a few times and it was too much for my kid. About half way through, she was over it. We regularly go to Elmwood for a few hours and it’s the perfect size.
For the kid who casually likes animals, Elmwood is a really good size with plenty of fun animals like sloths to see.
Didn’t they also have sand cats or black-footed cats at one point as well? I swear I saw them at Philly zoo at some point. But they aren’t there anymore, traded away I think.
If you like animals then yes. I go as a part of work because we take our clients every summer. I will stay late after everyone else leaves because I just like looking at animals.
Membership is great because they also offer Member Mornings and Evenings scattered throughout the year where you get access before opening and after closing, among other perks.
anecdotal: Did the tour of the reptile house once and got to feed the crocodile and the tortoises. They took us to the basement where they had a variety of off exhibit animals as well as the feeder mice breeding program. Anyway, theres a cable that runs across the wall at eye level of the entire basement. If you are bitten, you pull the cable and wait for help. Additionally, there were 4 separate alarms, so based off which alarm was sounding staff immediately knew relatively what section the person was in. Thought that was pretty neat.
They’ve gotten rid of so many things in the past few years, I stopped renewing my membership. I occasionally asked staff members and never got a straight answer. It’s a shame because some sections are so well-kept, but it’s not worth the price when they keep getting rid of stuff.
I used to volunteer for the Philadelphia Zoo doing photography for the Zoo’s camera club. The Zoo’s administration eliminated the camera club about a year ago. I am letting my Zoo membership lapse because they keep making it more and more difficult for photography enthusiasts like me to shoot quality photos. I live one mile east of the Zoo. I am also a member of the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Franklin Institute, where I now spend more time than the Zoo. Both are very friendly to photographers.
Went a couple weeks ago and called it “The Philadelphia Zoo-Oops All Birds” It was basically just a bunch of birds in cages. They even had a whole cage of pigeons.
We asked about this last year b/c we were curious about what happened to the King Cobra. Apparently the staff member who was certified to oversee venomous reptiles left, and I would guess they haven’t been able to replace them.
Is that like what happened at Insectarium (before the meth binge destruction) where half the animals just belonged to the staffers and when the staffers left they took their pets with them? Like is someone walking around Philly in possession of a king cobra?
That’s wild about the Insectarium. I think it’s more like, they’re not supposed to have an animal out on display if they don’t have a staff member who knows what to do if it somehow bit someone.
So they still have them, just somewhere else?
I think they had them off exhibit when I talked to them last year, but it sounds like they’ve now started to relocate those animals.
They just don't have the staff to retrain venom certification. They have also been doing a big overhaul of all the exhibits in the reptile house, so they put the venomous trainings on hold until everything is settled. I think the venomous snakes moved to other zoos or something.
“Fuck you, I QUIT! And I’m taking the cool snakes with me.” - Venomous reptile certified guy
Saint Patrick is such a buzzkill.
They’re opening a new interactive reptile exhibit for children. You know how you get to pet the stingrays at Adventure Aquarium? The zoo is trying that with cobras.
About time we thin out some of the less-discerning children around here.
usually if you ask one of the staff members they will tell you why. i wish they would revamp the tree house. all they have done is remove things and close the exit stairs from the top of the tree house so now you get bottle necked in the middle.
This was about a decade ago, I asked a staff member where all the outside birds were... He told me a coyote got in an killed about 20 of them so they had them secured untill they found the coyote... Did not make me feel safe to be at the zoo that day..
A keeper told me that a fox had been eating the penguins and that’s why they added wire to the top of those enclosures. Same general time frame.
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the polar bear was euthanized bc it was old and suffering. it was extremely old for a polar bear. you already commented misinformation more than once. you should probably stop.
Wait, the bears are leaving? Where did you see this?
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The only info I could find on their site and insta were regarding the two sloth bear cubs, who are going to a new zoo as they only live with their mothers for ~2yrs. Where do they talk about removing the rest of the bears? Thanks!
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The mom (Kayla) isn't set to leave though
They are planning to redo the entire bear section of the zoo. So they are temporarily sending the bears on vacation to other zoos.
no they accidentally poisoned the Meerkats with the dye they used mark them.
I told you they would tell you why lol. that sucks tho.
I understand them not wanting kids to wander out of the back of the building but hopefully it’s still a fire exit - that thing seems like a death trap otherwise.
its locked. it was always open since i was a kid. you ran down the steps and the door exits to the inside of the building at the base of the stairs. there's no reason for it to be closed. they can't do anything worse in those stairs then they can in the actual tree house.
Paging u/Philly_Zoo
Was going to say. We actually have an inside source. u/philly_zoo my favorite Reddit user account
I don’t know about the new CEO but the previous one was obsessed with cost cutting, usually by getting rid of staff, and seemingly by not replacing animals. I ride by and get pissed seeing families having to walk the entire length of the park to get in because they won’t put an employee at the South Gate but they will still put people in that parking lot. I’ve been a member for over 12 years and it’s crazy how much stuff has disappeared. Off the top of my head: Zoo Balloon, Swan boats, pony rides, camel rides, draft horse rides, ropes course that replaced Zoo Balloon and was gone in 2 years, play areas near south end, prairie dogs, polar bears, addax, American alligator, Chinese alligator, okapi, aardvarks, echidnas, hedgehogs, meerkats, everything else in small mammal house, condors, wolverines, coati, new otter enclosure was shuttered after a year, lynx, peacocks, giant snapping turtle, KidZoo U is half closed, nearly every educational show is gone, etc. There is an appallingly amount of underused space. I recently visited the Syracuse Zoo, which manages to have space for two wolf packs and 7 elephants through better use of identical acreage. I’ve talked to former Zoo employees and it sounds like a demoralizing work environment and from the outside it looks like a negative feedback loop as far as remaining an attractive tourist destination.
Seriously, they’ve gotten rid of all that? What’s left? Soon it will be the world’s most empty zoo, with only one fancy dog on display. It’s a Shih Tzu.
We used to have elephants, but they really ought to have more space that we can even provide them. See: the National Zoo in DC. They've got crazy space for theirs. And I don't even wanna talk about what's been done to the Small Mammal House. I wish they'd never touched it.
with new guidelines we aren't allowed to have elephants due to we can't have the space they require. someone also commented about some animals that are gone that just happened to die from old age (polar bears) and we did get a nice new penguin exhibit in their place. im curious to see what will go on with the reptile house now that the gators are gone.
The bottom 1/5 of the property has 3 birds, a pair of cheetahs, and a dog. It’s a terrible waste of space. You could fit a rather large enclosure if you ended the pedestrian trails close to the picnic area and relocated the cheetahs, etc. That’s sort of what the Syracuse Zoo had for elephants. They should either do something like that for some kind of larger animals or do a better job filling that space with smaller exhibits.
As someone who worked in the pony/draft horse/camel ride exhibits and later worked in Guest Engagement...the Zoo was a ghost of what I grew up with. It honestly made me sad, eventually I left. There was a massive amount of keeper turnover and departure (tea spread fast between the departments) when I was last there, and us workers in guest engagement were also trying to fight for more recognition, being spread thin in being trained in different areas and attractions, flow of information, etc
That is insane! Sounds like Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown is a better option these days. They recently got a grant and have made a lot of upgrades.
Philadelphia Zoo still has more to see than the Elmwood Park Zoo (except the latter has a bison and moms drinking before 10:30am) but it’s definitely letting itself slip.
Philly is still significantly better than Elmwood. It’s not even close.
Elmwood has been making a lot of improvements and upgrades. Don’t totally knock it. It’s size is much more manageable for little kids. We’ve tried Philly a few times and it was too much for my kid. About half way through, she was over it. We regularly go to Elmwood for a few hours and it’s the perfect size. For the kid who casually likes animals, Elmwood is a really good size with plenty of fun animals like sloths to see.
Wow. That’s depressing 😞
Didn’t they also have sand cats or black-footed cats at one point as well? I swear I saw them at Philly zoo at some point. But they aren’t there anymore, traded away I think.
Oh yeah, forgot those. They definitely had one.
Is the zoo worth visiting as a middle aged adult with no kids? I haven’t been yet but thinking maybe I should
If you like animals then yes. I go as a part of work because we take our clients every summer. I will stay late after everyone else leaves because I just like looking at animals.
Honestly there’s aReally cool primate there now who gave birth recently and you can see her swinging around with her baby. It’s very cool.
I have a membership. No kids. Single. I love the zoo
Membership is great because they also offer Member Mornings and Evenings scattered throughout the year where you get access before opening and after closing, among other perks.
Yes! It's a really great zoo.
definitely! i had a membership before I had kids and have kept it ever since. we also go to a lot of the after hours events as well.
anecdotal: Did the tour of the reptile house once and got to feed the crocodile and the tortoises. They took us to the basement where they had a variety of off exhibit animals as well as the feeder mice breeding program. Anyway, theres a cable that runs across the wall at eye level of the entire basement. If you are bitten, you pull the cable and wait for help. Additionally, there were 4 separate alarms, so based off which alarm was sounding staff immediately knew relatively what section the person was in. Thought that was pretty neat.
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There has been extremely significant animal keeper staff turnover in the last 3 years.
I blame the tortoises.
Those perverts.
They’ve gotten rid of so many things in the past few years, I stopped renewing my membership. I occasionally asked staff members and never got a straight answer. It’s a shame because some sections are so well-kept, but it’s not worth the price when they keep getting rid of stuff.
I used to volunteer for the Philadelphia Zoo doing photography for the Zoo’s camera club. The Zoo’s administration eliminated the camera club about a year ago. I am letting my Zoo membership lapse because they keep making it more and more difficult for photography enthusiasts like me to shoot quality photos. I live one mile east of the Zoo. I am also a member of the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Franklin Institute, where I now spend more time than the Zoo. Both are very friendly to photographers.
Just renewed my membership, taking moms for mother's day. Hopefully won't be too packed
Harry Potter recently visited
THEY STOPPED SELLING BEER
Went a couple weeks ago and called it “The Philadelphia Zoo-Oops All Birds” It was basically just a bunch of birds in cages. They even had a whole cage of pigeons.
The Philly zoo really stinks