I'm currently a prospective zookeeper and looking into a job at the Columbian Park Zoo in Lafayette, IN and I was hoping to find out what everyone thought about it. Its featured on a few zoo lists but I haven't been able to find any reviews on it here. It appears to be a small unaccredited zoo that seems nice and is currently working towards their AZA accredidation. I'm not in a position to visit the zoo myself very easily so I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on the zoo. Thank you
I have been to over 70 US zoological parks and am familiar with many more, yet I have never heard of this place before. I would be surprised if anyone on ZooChat had actually visited it, though maybe someone has. Of course general online review sites (Google Plus, Tripadvisor, etc) are useless when it comes to zoos because the reviews are all biased to the two extremes. The only people who bother to post are locals who want to promote their own zoo (unrealistically positive reviews) or people who had a miserable experience for one reason or another and want to tell the world what a bad place it is (unrealistically negative reviews). ZooChat would be the best place to get a realistic review, so I hope maybe someone here has been to it. However, if you are considering a job there, I would think it is worth your while to visit first, even if it is out of the way and requires staying overnight at a motel to get there.
I have visited Columbian Park Zoo several times between 2001 and 2005, its a smaller facility but very good one for the sized town with a dedicated staff. Feel free to private message me with any questions about it.
Thanks for your assistance. I did end up getting replies from other people and they had similar thoughts on how respectable the zoo is. I am curious what aspects they still need to work on to get their AZA accredidation but that's a question to ask them if my application is considered.
