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Dreaming about starting up a 'petting zoo' - bad idea?

MotherPanda

Warren Scout
Hello,

I've always had this little dream of starting up a petting zoo sort of place, something like a pet advisory centre, I was thinking that I would have rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, degus maybe even chickens etc, and hopefully these could all be rescue animals.

I was thinking more on the exhibiting and informative side of things, so they would all have huge housing with the perfect diet, and we could sell food, pet items/ houses etc and offer free advertising for local rescues, and contact details for good local vets to try and encourage people to be great pet owners!

I love zoos myself, and love to walk around looking at all the animals - I think small animals are just as fun in a stimulating environment. Would have lots of posters with 'did you know' sorts of things. could maybe arrange children's parties, have a cafe and that sort of thing. I'm thinking it will have indoor and outdoor spaces, so it could withstand English weather!

I'm no sure about allowing actual petting though - I suppose if I found the right animals who enjoyed being handled this would be ok, if it wasn't for long each day.

TLDR - How do you feel about petting zoos, and the ethics of housing rescued animals in such spaces - with children about?
 
I'm not sure but i think some rescue animals might be a bit scared by noisy kids shouting all around them trying to poke them and cuddle them. :? I suppose a non-petting mini zoo would be a good idea but the noise would be LOUD!

Apart from that it seems like a good idea! :wave:
 
I'd engineer a wrist band, like bark collars for dogs, that gave anyone who was too loud a minor electric shock. You wouldn't get in without one. :lol:
 
Maybe If we only had deaf rescue animals? :roll: I think you just have to ask everyone to keep the noise down and police it - i've seen this work quite well in places where they have a 'hatchery/baby' section. But then outside you get to shout and run about...

hmmm... I want a zoo! [stomps feet]
 
Maybe If we only had deaf rescue animals? :roll: I think you just have to ask everyone to keep the noise down and police it - i've seen this work quite well in places where they have a 'hatchery/baby' section. But then outside you get to shout and run about...

hmmm... I want a zoo! [stomps feet]

That seems a nice idea.
 
I dont see how it couldnt work if it were well organised. Just do hourly handling sessions with calm animals so they aren't being bugged all the time. There's no reason why some rescue animals wouldn't be ok with handling but it't be a case of picking them out. I run a sort of mobile petting zoo and a number of the animals I use and have used were rescues. I had to stop taking buns out as only one of my pair was ok with being handled. My girl Honsy tolerated it but was always slightly more uncomfortable. When her lad died we adopted another bunny but he didn't like bingpicked up.
 
Would be fun :)

If you get animals that are babies or confident adults and slowly get them accustomed to the noise they should be okay. My auntie has 4 young kids and they kept their bun indoors when they first got her, whilst waiting for her to be old enough to spay. She is a confident and mardy little madam anyway, but she is pretty much bombproof now after living with the kids :lol: doesnt even care about the hoover.
 
Crunchie - a mobile petting zoo :love:

nessar, you're quite right. would be about picking rabbits who are happy in that environment, My rabbits have got used to my baby shrieking at them - they don't even ***** their ears up for her anymore - she's old news.
 
I think it sounds great if done properly, I've seen a few pictures of animal places where they've had rabbits in big aviary enclosures that looked brilliant :) And using rescue animals is a great idea, although you'd need to get very friendly ones that were fine with noise and handling, I'd also personally go for a variety of different rabbits, including the typical 'pretty coloured' rabbits you often find in pet shops so people can see that you can get a gorgeous, friendly bun from a rescue, as a lot of uneducated public don't seem to think you can. Also, I personally wouldn't go for any long haired breeds, just in case people ignore the whole 'rescue idea' and the kid decides they want a long haired rabbit from the nearest pet shop, I mean in any case a kid seeing a rabbit and wanting to buy one on a whim is bad, but a long haired rabbit that could end up in a horrendous state if not groomed properly would be especially bad :( Although you could maybe have one kept away from the public except for 'grooming lessons' or something, infact that'd be a great idea, you can show people how to clip nails and things too :)

ETA: Ooh use sob stories too, that'll put people off pet shops and encourage them to rescue, especially if any of the animals have come from pet shops in quite a bad state
 
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demiS - you're hired! Great ideas :)

grooming lessons is a fab idea - a lot of people think you can't get babies from rescues too, of course we all know that all kinds of rabbits end up in rescues - through no fault of their own.

I'd love to have lessons on how to make willow/hay toys and things too...

So many ways that it could actually work as a business (ie make money) too. Of course vet bills would be unpredictable, but would have insurance for all the pets possible - has anyone ever insured a hamster?
 
I have a similar dream but with a wider range of animals, such as many exotics. Like Chasing Tail does: http://www.chasing-tail.com/ Teaching people about animals and how to properly care for them, especially exotics, would be really fun and hopefully I could show people that the 'wild animals belong in the wild' thing is complete nonsense. I definitely want to own those animals anyway and I definitely want to work with animals so it would be cool to merge those two things at some point and become a zoo. Of course this would take a lot time and money.

But there's so many problems with zoos - insurance and liability, security (especially with expensive animals), animal rights nuts, disease due to so many people coming and going (for example, bringing mycoplasma to my chickens, etc - I have a fear of a disease breakout), would be weird to have people coming on my own land, and I'm shy so I'd definitely have to work on that, etc etc.

With just small common animals I doubt you'd really have any of those concerns though. I think it's a great idea. There needs to be more good petting zoos as they can be so educational when done right :D
 
Hi william - I'm sure that many of the concerns are similar - disease worries, public liability insurance (what if one of the children gets bitten and the parents try to sue?), but thankfully wouldn't have to worry about dangerous wild animal licenses or quarantines for new animals.

I'd love to have a red panda thrown in the mix - but that's not going to happen!
 
Hi william - I'm sure that many of the concerns are similar - disease worries, public liability insurance (what if one of the children gets bitten and the parents try to sue?), but thankfully wouldn't have to worry about dangerous wild animal licenses or quarantines for new animals.

I'd love to have a red panda thrown in the mix - but that's not going to happen!

That's true, I was thinking with domestic animals people wouldn't get so upset with getting bit and things like that but I've actually heard of a girl (in her late teens probably) at a petting zoo that went hysterical over a baby goat just barely breaking her skin. Apparently she thought it was going to give her aids:lol: Thankfully, she didn't think of rabies or the poor baby goat would have been seized and had his head cut off in order to test him for rabies.

A red panda would be amazing! :lol:
 
We have an animal sanctuary and have started to take small groups of special needs people for visits.
They get to see most of the animals but there are specific ones we take out for them to pet, supervised.
We have Bournville, my horse who is pretty bombproof, Conker the goat who loves people, either Treacle or Molly the rabbits, Nookie or Incy the guinea pigs and Lady the dog. It seems to be very therapeutic fit the people but the animals we take out are confident and in some cases show- offs.
We had a larger group of special needs kids aged between 4- 8 on Friday and it was quite stessful, some were banging cages and one tried to poke Lady in the eye. They did not mean any harm but it was very stressful, we have now decided on no more than 5 people a visit ( if special needs an able bodied person with them)
It is wonderful so see someone nervous of animals gain confidence and comfort from touching then but also very stressful trying to protect your animal, no matter how confident they are.
 
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