Petting zoo

Common card · No. 461555

A petting zoo (also called a children's zoo, children's farm, or petting farm) is a zoo that allows visitors to touch and feed the animals. In addition to independent petting zoos, many general zoos contain a petting zoo. Most petting zoos are designed to provide only relatively placid, herbivorous domesticated animals, such as sheep, goats, rabbits, ponies and donkeys to feed and interact physically with safety. This is in contrast to the usual zoo experience, where normally wild animals are viewed from behind safe enclosures where no contact is possible. A few provide wild species (such as pythons or big cat cubs) to interact with, but these are rare and usually found outside Western nations. Petting zoos are categorized as part of the agritourism sector. Concerns have been raised about the welfare of animals in petting zoos, particularly due to interactions with large numbers of visitors, which can be stressful. Under appropriate conditions, where animals have access to refuge and can...

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