This enchanting little Zoo was such a surprise to find in our community when we moved to Santa Barbara! It's the perfect size to visit in just a few hours or to make a day of. It's very clean, has beautiful grounds, and the habitats of the animals are wonderful. There is a train (my son's favorite) , food (my husband's favorite), a giraffe feeding opportunity (my favorite), and even a dinosaur show. I absolutely love this Zoo! My sister and her family in Redondo Beach always say it's a must when they visit and we agree! Their summer camp is voted number one camp in town each year and we'll be sending our son this summer. If you read the signs or talk to the staff you'll also find that they also do a lot of field work to save animals in the wild. It's a wonderful place to enjoy with our family.
Review from CharityNavigator
The mission of this zoo is not about the animals but rather to be an event center not which are related to the mission of the zoo. Weddings, parties and other events just focusing on bands and drinking which cause trauma to the animals, noise pollution to neighbors not to mention just waste all in the name of money. There is no way that this organizations can maintain there charity status with the amount of unrelated business income that bring in through the events. In addition their expenses are out of line. The CEO salary is 2and 1/2 percent of revenue and 25% of adminstrative expenses. This is only on 9 million of revenue.