“Zoo animals are ambassadors for their cousins in the wild.”~ Jack Hanna
Finally! At long last!! I was able to convince my neighbors and members of staff to actually go to the zoo.
Working this project for almost four years, and going through three different social services coordinators… the hard would work pay off.
OR would it?!?
Everyone knew that this was “my baby” and everyone knew that I had been trying this for a long, long, long time.
So it was put on the calendar and suddenly there was more talk about what to do while we were out. Some of the rest of my neighbors saw to it that we would stop somewhere on our way to the zoo to stop and have lunch.
And so we would stop to eat.
It wasn’t bad. This new Mexican food restaurant.
Probably the only thing that would be worthy mentioning about this place is the SNAFU that happened when some other waitress placed before me someone else’s plate. And throughout the rest of our time sitting in this restaurant, I just would not hear the end of it.
Until I finally embraced it and fired back. Yeah, don’t barb on Dambreaker. Dambreaker will get you back!!!
So on to the zoo which is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy the hell out there! It probably took more than an hour to drive. And that was ridiculous point #1.
Another twenty minutes, we could have been in another city and visited THEIR zoo.
Upon arrival, you could hear the wild animals screaming. It was just slightly disheartening as it sounded like someone was screaming “help!” for some reason. Turned out to be the peacocks that were roaming around on the property towards the front entrance of the zoo.
These loud mouth fowls were everywhere. Although they did not spread out their feathers on display. 
Yet they were the ones that were screaming.
Inside the main office building was their basic central operations.
Admissions, business, administration, and of course gift shop.
And what do we know about me with gift shops?
Yes… you cannot leave me unattended. And the group of five other people did just that in the gift shop area of the building.
They have a sign up about their policy of if you spend $50 or more, then you get a FREE zoo admission for future use that will expire in about a year.
Yes, I have that FREE admission. But I am about to tell you why I am not going to personally use it. I’ll either just let it go to waste or give it to someone who wants it.
Going out the back door to go see all the animals, there was already a problem. Gravel, dirt, and hills.
Geez!! I couldn’t really get up the first hill that passed into the main part of the zoo where the majority of the animals were. I had been found by a stranger who asked if I wanted help. It took three adult women to get me up that stupid hill.
And going down the hill was not fun either. Whomever designed the zoo and constructed its pathways is a complete and total idiot who had NO regards to the elderly or disabled.
None whatsoever!!
No, I do NOT care how old this zoo is… this was shady and ridiculous. 
I have no idea how many animals I missed getting to see because of this. But I saw some of the major animals that zoos normally have on display. Needless to say that before I left the office I asked about eagles and they admitted to not having any.
In an effort to be very mean I said outloud, “Then why am I here?”
Yeah… I absolutely did.
I probably should have been paying more attention as it would have been a giant red flag for me.
Simply put, the zoo is NOT a place for those who are disabled or have difficulty walking or other mobile issues and this would include the elderly.
Even one of the neighbors came back through and immediately complained about the place, especially for people like me and older people. The thing about her is that she is a REAL LIFE nun!! So people actually pay attention to her.
She was given someone’s card with information on it. And given an apology and the lack-luster excuse that they do not have the money to construct an accessible zoo.
I want to get my hands on that business card!!!!
And then it struck me. This zoo is not just your normal big city zoo. This is an animal sanctuary for rescued animals. Every last animal and species in this zoo has been rescued at one point or another. This is NOT just a zoo.
So I will not be returning again. And for several factors that would include the long distances.
I had more fun at the Houston Zoo a couple of years ago and I STILL didn’t see everything there either.
Dambreaker 