The Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro is one of the smaller zoos we have been to, but it packs quite a punch for its size with a variety of animals and exhibits. The 8 acre property has a few indoor exhibits as well as the outdoor ones.

Situated adjacent to the large Capron Park and playground, the zoo is open year round and costs $5.50 for adults and $3.75 for children (kids under 2 get in for free). Attleboro residents and seniors get a discount. Entry and exit to the zoo is through the gift shop, so there are two opportunities to entice the kids for toys and animal gear. Maps are located throughout the zoo for easy reference to the 18 exhibits. We asked for a map to take with us, but the zoo keeper told us that they stopped making them because too many people were leaving them throughout the park, which made sense, but it would have been nice to have with us.

Kangaroos and Emus were the first animals you see when you enter the park. We were a little disappointed that the Kangaroos were not hopping around, but did get to see some hopping action on the way out. A splash park is under construction and set to open in June and will surely be a hit for kids on hot summer days.

The next major exhibit we spent time at was the White Lion cage where Ramses, the male lion, and Kayla and Nyala, two 4-year-old lionesses, spend their time. A zoo employee came along and tossed what looked like chicken legs into the large cage; we saw the lions eating away at these, which made it a bit more interesting.

Other highlights for us were the River Otters, who deftly swim about their tank doing back flips when they hit the wall, much like an Olympic swimmer. The glass viewing area is at one end of their pond and gets you really close to the action, so our kid really enjoyed watching them swim around. He also enjoyed the Llamas and goats, which were fenced in and ready to eat. We purchased some food for 25 cents and were able to distract them with it so our son could pet them. Don’t worry about germs – the zoo has sanitizer right there for everyone.

There are several indoor exhibits. In the Nocturnal building, day and night have been reversed, allowing you to view the night creatures in their natural habitat. The indoor rainforest exhibit was one of our favorites; we spent 20 minutes in that building and could have stayed longer! It provides an open view to an artificial rainforest, so we were able to get close to many different animals, including a Porcupine, Fruit Bats, 3 toed Sloth, and various birds; there were too many animals to name. It was a bit chilly outside so the warm, tropical rainforest was a welcome change for us and our kid.

Capron offers several interesting programs:

Zoo Snooze Programs – for almost any size group the zoo will let you stay overnight to see what happens at the zoo in the dark. There are indoor and outdoor (tent) options for sleeping with pricing starting at $250 for groups of 12 people.

Zoo Party Program – Offering 3 different programs (Snow Leopard, Sloth Bear, and Kangaroo) this is a cool option for a birthday party. Each program provides for admission of 25 people to the zoo and the program as well as use of the party room, a kids meal, cake, ice cream, and a goody bag. With prices ranging from $225 to $325 depending on the animal theme, this seems like a pretty good deal.

Mom Says: If we lived closer we would be members in a heartbeat. Like the three bears, the size wasn’t too big or too small, it was just right. I wasn’t worried about losing our little one or letting him run around. I’m not sure if they run things differently in the summer, but we were able to bring snacks in our bag.

Dad Says: I love zoos so was excited to visit one I had not been to, especially to see the White Lion. I was kind of bummed that Lemur Island is not open yet, but that will be a reason to visit Capron again. The snack bar was not open, but we did notice there was plenty of outdoor seating and a play area for the kids. We’d also build in some time to play or picnic in Capron Park and hit up the fantastic playground right next to the zoo entrance.

Check out a slideshow of the rest of our pictures from this trip or view them on Flickr

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 4:04 am and is filed under Places to Go, Zoos. If you use RSS, you can subscribe to the RSS feed , or if you would rather receive an e-mail, please subscribe to the e-mail in the lower right hand corner of this page. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.