Today's adventure was a trip to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium, located in Litchfield Park, a western suburb of Phoenix. For a small privately owned facility, it had a good selection of animals, especially birds, many of them rare and endangered. Signs indicate that it participates in species conservation programs. The exhibits include several albino animals which rarely if ever survive in the wild, including three white tigers and an albino alligator. These are curiosities rather than representatives of their species.
The zoo is well laid out for a facility in the Arizona desert, with lots of mature shade trees, so we were comfortable during the morning. In the afternoon it definitely got hot and we were glad to visit the indoor exhibits (small mammals, reptiles, and the three aquarium buildings).
We enjoyed our visit overall, but did find some things less than satisfactory. For example, two species of meerkats are housed in three different locations, but the total number of animals we saw was seven. Many social animals appeared to be alone. The enclosures were in many cases rather small and dusty, so that animals that rely on water had access to little or none. These conditions are most likely the result of budget constraints, since the entire operation is funded by gate receipts and sales of ride tickets, food, and souvenirs--no grants or other outside support are involved. Also, small exhibits with less natural habitat features make the animals more visible to the visitors.
We were tired by the end of our visit and grateful to Jan for driving home. On the way we stopped at Fresh & Easy to pick up some things for dinner. They carry some really delicious frozen artisan rustic rolls that I hope we can find again. Jan's pecan encrusted salmon was great, as always.
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