Alaska Zoo

My kids love zoo camp! They learn about the animals. Make themed crafts and lunch is included.
They also qualify for the child care flex spending account!

This is a small zoo and they have cute animals here. Admission is $ 15 and its truly worth the price. Make sure you wear a comfortable shoes since the trail can be rocky and muddy. The highlight here was seeing the two brown bear cubs playing with each other, the dahl sheep close up and the snow leopard! Seems like the animals are very well taken care and we had so much fun in this zoo.

I really expected more from an Alaskan zoo. My thought was that the enclosures would be something to and be more interactive for the animals. I will say all the animals looked well fed, many animals were rescued for various reasons. I did find the pacing polar bear a bit sad to watch. They are building a new enclosure for them now.

We have had an annual family membership for several years. Our guests for the summer always want to visit the zoo. It is small, but that gives it a more neighborhood feel. Recently some of the enclosures have been updated and changed for the better. Always visit during the holiday lights.

Made an impromptu stop at the zoo while having friends in town. $ 15 seemed a bit steep for such a small zoo, however I can certainly see where their money goes. We were quite impressed by how knowledgable their employees were (Angelica especially), their habitat set up, their rehabilitation area and how close we were able to get to the various animals, while still maintaining a safe distance. We ran into Angelica a few times, where she introduced us to a bunch of different animals, let us know their history at the zoo and even told us about their eating habits or diets. She let us know she was an intern there before and just recently hired here over the summer. Moving on we checked out the gift shop — which was actually quite large. They really did offer something for everyone in there — puzzles, books, stuffed animals, cold weather gear, ornaments, etc. Heather checked us out at the gift store — another employee very passionate about the animals. All in all, we enjoyed our time at the zoo, our only discontent was the lack of signage around the zoo, but I guess that’s what we have maps for?

Staff was courteous when we had a minor injury.
Short staffed on a weekend during tourist season. Tough to find someone for help or questions. We saw one lady the entire time.
Tons of construction.
Petting zoo was closed, with no notice! My 6 year old was SUPER bummed. A warning would have been nice.

Top attraction for kids. Lots of animals, very informative display, natural setting, spent half a day without realizing it.

Walked around the zoo with my sweetheart today. Most of the animals were sleeping but I could understand why. It’s late in the day and the weather is rainy/​cloudy and dreary. I love animals so I always enjoy going to the zoo. Alaska’s zoo is definitely smaller than any other I’ve been to. But it’s always a fun and memorable experience! Staff is always pleasant as well!

One of our favorite places to take family when they visit or just go to enjoy some awesome animals. It’s a small zoo and therein lies the charm — it’s perfect for a quick day trip. The animals are all amazingly kept and healthy. You get super close to them without being eaten. My daughter has learned SO much about animals from this place and it’s helped continue her love of animals. There’s a petting zoo that could use some work but it’s otherwise clean and maintained. Other than that, absolutely worth the trip. Not overly commercialized or crowded or crazy.

Great place to see almost all the animals in Alaska. Great value for money, $ 15/​person. Do not miss this.

Lots of fun! Brought my kids twice this week and really enjoyed it both times. I usually don’t enjoy zoos but this one is homey and entertaining. Good choice of animals for an arctic zoo now that the elephant is gone. Cool place to bring the kids. My Alaskan kiddos surprisingly were most entertained by seals and moose and of course a few rescued bear cubs.

The zoo was okay. We visited, drove down from Palmer specifically for AARP Wednesday so our mobility challenged Aunt and Uncle could visit with us. Well first of all, thank you to the volunteers. I appreciate your efforts, however. My uncle has Alzheimer’s and my aunt and he were in different golf carts. My uncles golf cart driver might have had a race car driving past, he took off and we never saw him again (my uncle w/​alz) until we returned to the entrance and he had been dropped at the locked car in the parking lot. My aunt was there, she had arrived little while after my uncle. I tried to communicate with the driver, at the beginning of the zoo. He was another great volunteer was hearing challenged. I understand AARP and volunteers — I had the notion that we would be able to stay as a family unit and enjoy the zoo as such. I got photos of most of the animals as quickly as possible. Not really able to enjoy the experience nor the atmosphere. Hoping Uncle would not be too confused being alone with a stranger. It is a great idea. But poor execution– possibly all my assumption of how it should work in my mind. Having been to 2 zoos in my home state of AZ last month, I believe the AK zoo needs some bigger enclosures. A lot of the animals seemed upset, possibly by the speeding golf carts! One of the polar bears was doing the look up at the sky and spin in the corner of his enclosure– looks like stress to me. They could also use another public rest room at the entrance.

Great zoo!!! … good amount of animals and no crowds!!! I actually got to see the animals with out waiting 20 min to get close to their enclosure like back in LA

I came in late November in 2014 and it was pretty much covered in snow. The animals didn’t seem too energetic and seemed a bit sad due to most likely being captive for so long. But it was amazing to see all the different types of animals they had. Unfortunately, I think their bears were in hibernation so we weren’t able to see them. But I still had a blast. The wolves are just incredibly fascinating and put on a great show when they were howling.

Loved this place. Don’t expect anything like the San Diego zoo, but know that there is more than enough to do.
They have a pretty good variety of animals to see: polar bears, otters, snow leopards etc. As far as the aesthetics of the zoo goes, it’s very quaint. Nothing too fancy, but it gets the job done.
The staff here was the selling point for me though. We were fortunate enough to have an employee give us a guided tour and was very knowledgable about all the animals whether it was their names, age, or favorite activity. I don’t know if I could of have had a fun visit without a guide. I highly recommend finding a guide for any visit here.

It was a fun day visiting the zoo. I enjoyed the stories of how the animals came to be at their zoo but a few were missing. Enclosures aren’t huge but animals seemed content. Their focus is on conservation which we appreciate.

Great little zoo in Anchorage, walkable and the Polar bear and brown bear exhibits were visible. They have enrichment presentations at each certain sites at prescribed hours where you can hear a little info about the animals and see some interactive activity. The Amur Tiger exhibit was cool. Definitely doable to cover the whole zoo and would recommend it for a visit.

We had a great time! Loved the bears, considering Alaska is kind of a boring place, the zoo is a fun afternoon!

After a couple hours hiking, my friends and I were driving back to town. We saw this and since we’ve been joking around about wanting to see a real moose, we went right on in. There was a line to get tickets and soon enough I paid for my ticket with my military discount. I even got some apple cider (packet kind, but tasted like a jolly rancher). I was a bit sad about not getting popcorn since it wasn’t ready.
Once we were in, we checked out the animals. Plenty of animals to see: sea lions, otters, polar bears, moose, caribou, wolves, bald eagles, porcupines, brown bears (which were away eating), snow leopard, tigers, llamas, turkey, etc. I know it seems like they’ve got nothing out of the ordinary, but I enjoyed it since there wasn’t a crowd to deal with. I was left to enjoy the zoo without getting rushed and most of the enclosures are not just windowed off.
I feel like we got our money’s worth. Just make sure to bring the right footwear since the path can be icy during the colder months.

It all started in 1966, when Anchorage grocer Jack Snyder won a contest offering a prize of «$ 3,000 or a baby elephant». He chose the Asian elephant named Annabelle and first kept her at a ranch in a heated stall.
With Annabelle’s increasing popularity, a non-​profit corporation was formed to build a place «where the public could visit animals and learn about them.» The Alaska Children’s Zoo was opened in 1969, and the place grew from there.
In 1983, a female African elephant named Maggie was brought to Alaska Zoo to keep Annabelle company. In 1997, Annabelle died and was buried at the zoo. In 2007, Maggie was moved to the PAWS sanctuary in California.
In 1994, Binky, the mighty polar bear defended his enclosure against human intruders. Binky became famous far and wide for pictures of a woman’s shoe dangling from his mouth. Thereafter they made the current polar bear exhibit human-​proof.
As for now, the enclosures are acceptable and the animals seem OK with it all — at least in warmer weather when we went. There was a big cat in a smallish enclosure and I wished he had more room. The moose field is big, so you may not see one up close, but you can always drive around rural Alaska for your moose sightings.
Alaska Zoo is not big like the San Diego zoo, but that place is charging about $ 85 to get in now (unless you are a wild animal, of course). The grounds are about 25 acres. Worthwhile for short visit of a couple of hours. You’ll see bears (black, brown, polar), snow leopards, moose, bald eagles and other birds, wolves, coyotes, tigers, camels, yaks, deer, musk oxen, otters, mountain goats, etc. You get the picture — it’s a zoo.
You’ll probably not see everything because of the layout, so choose what you must see and leave it at that. The petting zoo has the usual sheep and goats. Overall we liked this zoo and never once broke down crying like one reviewer was on the verge of. Your kids will actually like it and will not need counselling.