north georgia zoo

This "zoo" is not accredited, it's an oversized goat mill with a few exotics. I can't believe this place has any good reviews. The animals look miserable. The exotics are in small kennel like cages that don't resemble their natural habitat at all. The baby goats are ripped from their mothers to be bottle fed in a muddy pen so that they will be friendlier and worth more money when the owners sell them. The rabbits are enormous and are kept in a tiny cage, they barely have enough room to turn around. There are bible quotes all over the place so the owners are clearly religious. I guess God doesn't care about animals then or this place wouldn't still be around.

We visited the zoo for my b'day this past week. Such a awesome & fun experience.Made me feel like a 10 yr old again rather than an adult!Highly recommend for all ages if you love animals! Staff was very knowledgeable & helpful.Was able to hand feed lots of different animals goats, pigs, mules, deer, donkeys & even a camel! An amazing experience. All the animals seen happy & well taken care of. The staff seems to actually care about the animals!!We were able to howl with a wolf super cool & learn about lots of exotic animals in a seperate guided tour from the petting zoo. At the end of the tour we were able to have a shoe & tell of sorts. Really awesome for all ages.We chose to pay for a few unique experiences. In my opinion were worth every penny & really reasonably priced. I was able to hold & cuddle a baby kangaroo so cool, same with a fox, and my personal favorite Jacob the lemur. Already planning our next trip back & can't wait!!!

This was our second time to the zoo. On our first trip, we did the wildlife tour and it was really good. On our second trip, my daughter and I did two close up animal encounters. I recommend the baby kangaroo encounter. It was very educational and pleasant cuddling a baby "roo".The young wolf encounter, I do not recommend unless you are a big person and can "hold your own" against a "wild" animal. Our experience was on-leash, but the wolf was huge and very unruly, like a naughty child, grabby peoples coats and gloves in its also huge mouth. It also lunged at my phone as I tried to take pictures. I can't believe I paid money to have this experience.

I was hesitant when I pulled into the small parking lot and viewed a barnyard littered with lots of farm animals! No lack in quantity of goats, sheep, pigs, ponies llamas, countless chicken and duck, etc. We enjoyed buying a bucket of feed and leisurely spent time ensuring each of the farm animals had their share. Use caution with the ponies they do, like any animal nip! This is a very quaint country zoo and would delight many city dwellers. However, I must give credit due where it is deserved. I opted for the behind the scene tour and was pleasantly surprised with the variety of both native and non- native animals. This is not a state of the art facility. The animal dwellings are adequate. Plan to get dusty, muddy and wear shoes you aren't afraid to get dirty. The staff is friendly and very knowledgeable. You can see they take pride in their work as they are also very personable and seem to enjoy teaching about their conservation efforts.After a tour of the back wooded areas that housed an array of big cats, beaver, kangaroo and a few other exotics we sat outside on covered porch for a meet and greet where we were able to interact with a joey, a barn owl, baby porcupine and wolves. The wolves alone are worth seeing! You actually get to mingle and pet them outside of their enclosures. In my opinion this is worth seeing. Just keep an open mind and accept it for what it is. A great little zoo in the country.

My husband and I were spending the weekend in Dahlonega and decided to visit the North Georgia zoo. It was small when we first pulled in and we thought it was only for kids. But we went ahead on the Winter Wonderland guided tour purchased from Groupon. There were about 25 people in our group and only 5 were kids. There were so many different kinds of animals!! Be sure to wear comfortable shoes and clothes, as you'll be doing some walking. If you don't go on a guided tour, be prepared to only see goats, sheep, pigs, dogs, and a couple of other animals. The guided tour features LOTS more, including deer [that roam amongst you :) ], wolves, kangaroos, camels (that you can feed), zebras, and more. For the petting part of the zoo, buy a bucket of feed for $5, rather than the cups for ($1 or $3). The feed goes fast! One thing that I would say needs to be improved/changed: There needs to be a HUGE sign in your face that says "DON'T FEED THE PIGS!! THEY WILL BITE YOU!!" There also needs to be an employee monitoring that area. The sign in question was small and falling off of the fence on the side of the pig pen. My husband went to feed one and it bit his hand, giving him a 3 inch cut on one of his fingers. Another lady also got bitten and hers was a huge gash in her finger. A little girl got bitten as well. They had to hold the tour to give the three of them first aid. (They all were fine and continued on the tour.) So...I repeat, DON'T FEED THE PIGS!All in all, it was a nice zoo, filled with all kinds of different types of animals. We would definitely go back!

When ever I visit places like this I think of the money is spent is for taking care of the animals and staff, like a good donation. These type of places are not a franchise so it's going to be a little more money. Don't be intimated by other reviews. If your going on vacation your going to spend money.Ok...now for a family of 4 entrance, animal feed in a cup, kangaroo encounter, camel encounter, wild animals guided tour , petting zoo of all the cute goats, lamas, pigs,ponies and turtles and a separate meet and greet of armadillo, chinchilla and snake we spent 140.00 . I think it was worth the $. Wear rain boots, mud shoes, it's muddy. Kids had a blast and we spent about 3 hours altogether.First, goat petting along with ponies, lamas, tortoise. Then, the baby kangaroo. ..the best thing I have seen and pet in a while. She was sweet, tongue like a kitty cat and very tame. The trainer must spent a lot of time with this cutie.she came right over and my kids and I got to hold her and it was not a rushed experience. We got to take a million pics and the trainer answered all of the questions asked.I was surprised of the amount of different types of animals here.We then took a wild animals tour, little bit of an incline. They have a beaver, lots of kangaroo and albino ones, Bearcats (never seen in zoo),timber wolves and several other animals, all were being maintained by staff .The next encounter was located in small wooden theatre setting. The kids got to learn and touch a armadillo, chinchilla and snake while a deer freely walked around and seemed she wanted to join us. Last was a tractor ride to meet Sammy the camel. He hopped and blew his lips when he saw us. We all got to dip our hands and grab hand fulls of feed and HAND FEED the camel. A whole bucket. Sammy was very sweet and a family dog followed us during this piece. The animals are used to take to schools in the area and movies and for nativity scenes. It's all about learning about these wonderful animal and conservation. All in all its a great way to spent time in Cleveland. Family had a great time, we visit every zoological or aquarium we can. This is a mom and pop operation and staff is friendly. But, it is definitely a place to visit. Btw...turn at the bead store on 129 on the way to Cleveland, this zoo sits just outside the town and near a local winery.Go! !!

Four petting areas, all about the size of a postage stamp. Don't waste your time or money. Suitable for small children only.

I totally agree with the last review.....don't let the first impression fool you. We booked the Starry Night Tour and arrived early to enjoy the petting zoo. They have over 400 animals and you definitely need to do one of the tours to see them all. Petting zoo was good. Lots of friendly and active animals and you can tell they are well loved and cared for. The Starry Night tour was awesome! Took about two hours. One part was a walking tour and the other was a hayride. Also took us to a place were we saw animals up close and personal. First time I've done a night time tour but it's a must do! Staff was super friendly and knowledgeable. After the tour there was an area with a small bonfire, hot chocolate and s'mores. While we were enjoying that area, they brought out more animals for us to touch and even hold. If you're an animal lover, you must go!

Driving back home from a N Georgia weekend and a sign lured us in. Pulled up and thought about turning around but my daughter urged me to stay. I was glad I did because it was a great experience. Did the wildlife walk with a friendly guide and we had an awesome up close encounter with many neat animals! Definitely more interesting than Zoo Atlanta mostly because the animals were active and looked like they had great care. Will go back for sure.

We had an excellent guide for our zoo tour. We saw fascinating animals at the Reptilian Center, including an adorable balled up armadillo, a legless snake, a boa constrictor, and a mink. Other animals, away from the petting zoo, came from Africa and all over the world. Our tour was only $15.00 a person in October, 2014. The petting zoo was fun, too, especially feeding the llamas.

I had a bad experience. I drove two hours to the zoo and took my three year old son. While on the Wildlife Tour we were continually reprimanded for not staying within the small group, instead I chased my toddler around in the back of the group, always within sight. We were asked to leave and told that it was too dangerous for us to move around. I inquired as to what they meant by "too dangerous" and I was told that we might put our hands inside a cage. This is ridiculous. I am almost forty and a mother. I think I know better than to stick my hand in a cage or try to hug a wolf. I did not argue when we were asked to leave because I did not want to cause a scene or upset my cute tot, but I am requesting a refund. There were no age restrictions on the Groupon and I was treated unfairly. I have called the Zoo and left messages and no one within management has returned my call. Thank you, Barbara

I read on the other reviews that there are apparently more 'zoo like' animals here, but I couldn't find them on our visit today. Perhaps that was one of the many, many extras - everything seems to be separate when you visit, although this is not clearly explained. We decided to just pay the regular fee plus buy a bucket of feed and do the petting zoo part. There are sheep, goats (lots and lots of goats), a handful of llamas, pigs, cows and chickens here, most of which you can feed and pet. The kids, ages two and six, absolutely loved it, but unless your kids are super, super into farm animals, there's not much more than an hour or so of entertainment here. We also saw a wolf in a kind-of-small cage, which seemed a little sad to me for that kind of animal. Generally the animals seem relatively well cared for (though they fall all over each other to get to the food). There were yellow jackets EVERYWHERE as well, which was unpleasant, and those with allergies should be aware of this. As an aside, the owners clearly are very religious as there are Bible verses posted all over the place as well as random Christian things inserted where you normally wouldn't expect (example: in the placard telling you about one breed of sheep, there are facts about the breed followed by "Is Jesus your Shepherd?" Uhhh okay. Overall a fun visit for small kids, especially city kids who don't get to see a lot of animals, but pretty overpriced and probably not the kind of place you'll make the trip to return to over and over again.

If you are from a rural area, and you have experienced farm life; then save your money! My kids were wanting to know where the other animals were because these were "normal, every day animals." If you want to see exotic animals plan to pay more after the general admission price. We planned to go here after looking at their site, but we were disappointed that the place and the website information doesn't completely match up! I will say that the staff were friendly!

The North Georgia Zoo is a 100% privately-funded zoo. That being said, the prices at first seemed a little high, but I can understand, when they receive no other funding. We didn't mind the price either, when we know we're supporting a local enterprise. They said that they have been around for many years, taking animals to learning events, birthday parties, etc, and just opened their facility to visitors about 4 years ago, when people kept asking where the animals were kept at. For $5, we got a whole bucket of feed for the sheep, goats, and cows. That was fun, and the kids really liked it. The animals are used to it, and they swarm at you for food, which was also fun. A parakeet house has a couple dozen parakeets, and you can pay to get some food on a stick and try to get one to eat off of it and then perch on the stick for you. A lot of animals to feed and pet, and you can pay extra for some excursions. We paid extra for a wagon ride out to see camels, yaks, oxen, and other exotic animals. Is it a zoo like a major city would have? No. It's really more of a large petting zoo, but it's a nice day trip if you're in north Georgia. The staff was also very friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable, and they really seemed to enjoy their jobs. Our kids (5, 8, 9) loved it. They do have a "rain or shine" policy, which would mean that if you paid for an excursion and it got rained out, then you don't get a refund. We had a good bit of rain and were concerned that our wagon ride might get rained out, but they were very accommodating and delayed it for a while for us. The facility feels safe, and I think our kids could have run around by themselves with no problem.

The North Georgia Zoo and Petting Farm was one of the highlights of our trip. When we messed up and went on a weekday (when they are closed), my husband emailed and arranged for a private visit, which though not inexpensive was worth every penny.Not only did we get to pet wolf cubs and interact with them for at least half an hour, the staff treated us like royalty. When they saw that I walked with a cane, they automatically offered to drive us around in their golf cart.