hovatter's wildlife zoo

Regardless of age, you have to visit this zoo. You can actually hand feed two giraffes, touch all kinds of animals (zebras, camels, yacks) , and get up close to others like lions and bears in a way I have never seen before. Make sure you buy the selection of food to feed all the animals. It is a small zoo so you can get through it in a couple of hours, then sit out front and have a picnic. My two teen age kids loved this place and so do I and Dad. We will be back next year. Got to hold a monkey and baby lion cub as well. Clean, nice people who work there.

The Lion was fantastic. Most of the animals had suitable enclosures. All of the animals looked to be in good health with cages clean. You are able to get really close to most of the animals. I would definitely visit Hovatter's Wildlife Zoo.

I don't know how to rate this on a star system really. Some things about this zoo were great. A majority of the animals had enough room but there were some disturbing cages. First of all the price is good, it was 38 dollars for 2 adults, 1 child, and 1 child under two ( he was free) and a large bag of mixed foods for the animals and carrots for the giraffes. The gift shop was cramped and stuffed with a ton of items. There were a lot of animals and my kids spent a lot of time at each cage interacting and petting many of them. That was the best part, it was very up close and they were able to actually touch the animals. Although as we went through, the cages were pretty small. Especially the big cat and horse cages. I don't know if there is another piece of land these people own to give the animals exercise but if not then some kind of animal association should probably step in. The animals were clean and well fed just not enough room. And the duck pond was absolutely disgusting. I wanted to say something on the way out but my husband would have died. None of the other reviews here mentioned that so maybe it was just at the time we went but I couldn't even imagine a pond in the wild with zero maintenance being anywhere near as scumy and filthy as that was.

This is a local place for us and we visit once a year. I really saw that it was much improved. Clean animal enclosures, fresh water feeds, and shade. You can be very close to and feed animals, and pet domestic animals. The children were quick to notice animal behaviors/characteristics while seeing them up close.No one prefers to view animals in captivity, but they do appear well cared for.

I have been to many zoos over the years so I may be a bit of a snob when it comes to this particular zoo but I was less than impressed. First of all we never would have found this place without GPS because there are only two signs the entire way there. The gift shop is too small for more than about five people total. The enclosures are VERY small for some of the animals. The leopards had the smallest considering their size and there were two leopards in one cage which was smaller than an average sized bedroom. The best part of the whole place was handfeeding the giraffes however I have done this at two other zoos which were significantly better than this. If you cannot make it to any other zoo you will enjoy it here but I would gladly take a longer drive to attend a better zoo.

I wish I hadn't gone to see this zoo. This is on a families property and the welfare of the animals oils taking a back seat to money. They are building a pavilion for parties, when they should be expanding the cages for the tigers, wolves, and Panthers. The cats had no rocks, grass, or water to be in. They continually placed, as did the bears. You do get to feed them through a plastic tube that gets food to them. The animals were fighting each other for food. The tigers looked thin as did the horses, who had no barn just a small overhang, they couldn't all fit under. We didn't buy anything in the gift shop. We weren't willing to support bad treatment of animals. We've been to many zoos and never walked away concerned for the animals welfare.

I take my young son to Hovatter's Zoo often. You have the chance to get close and personal with the animals. We especially love feeding the giraffe and the bears will sit pretty for a snack! We have had pictures taken with baby animals! We've also been to the Pittsburgh Zoo but prefer Hovatter's because you get to do more than just look.

This place is 20 miles from Morgantown, WV and there are not many signs giving directions. Thank God for GPS! Entry fee was reasonable and food for the animals was available at the gate. Get the food to enhance your experience. The animals love the attention! As for the overall condition of the zoo...it is very rugged (probably difficult for a wheelchair) and in need of regular cleaning. The smell got pretty strong in some places. Th enclosures are small and primitive. We noticed that the animals in the bigger pens were much happier and interacted much more than the smaller pens. We really enjoyed feeding the animals, especially the bears, giraffe, llamas, and goats. The hogs were completely stinky gross! Get a picture with the tiger cub if you can...what a treat!

I went home crying put it that way, my heart broke for those poor animals , they had no comfort at all most slept on concrete slabs, they were under weight and appeared to be starving, thankgod I had food and was able to buy it for them, the bear and wolves were so depressed and sad looking. the cages are not kept up the weeds were so overgrown in them you could tell they get no TLC I don't know how they weren't shut down yet I could only pray things get better

you can pet and feed food to Giraffee and few animals. There are white tiger and bengal tiger too. Also few bears. There are 3 wolves.

I was shocked when I went to this zoo. Most the animals are kept in small concrete cages. They had old toddler toys to play with and cheap tubes to drop your food in for the animals. The panthers were pacing and seemed very stressed. My house cat has more room then these large cats. The only escape they had from the public was a plastic dog house! I felt horrible being there and depressed thinking about it now.

This is a completely different experience from a huge zoo like Columbus or Pittsburgh. The selection of animals is smaller, as are some of the enclosure sizes, but everyone appeared to be well cared for. When you walk around the animals pay attention (expecting snacks), and it feels like a one-on-one moment with each animal. Where else can you touch a giraffe, hand a raccoon a snack, or feed a bear? Kids of all ages were having a great time feeding the animals or watching the chimps play. And if you don't melt a little touching a pot-bellied pig, you might not have a soul.

I took my son here for a nice day trip. When we got there the smell was overwhelming and made you start gagging instantly. Since we were already there, we decided to stay and go into the zoo. You enter and exit through a gift shop and was rather unorganized. They hassle you to buy food for the animals but every other zoo I have been to says do not feed the animals. The animals didn't look good at all. The enclosures were covered in feces and the animals were walking it in and sitting in it. It looked like they had not cleaned them in weeks. Their camel was going bald and looked very sickly. They had a bear that was extremely overweight that could barely walk. Im not sure if you have to have animals in a certain cage size but to me the cages were really small and looked like the animals had no room to move around and be comfortable. They had several lions in a cage that clearly was to small and they were fighting each other pretty bad.Overall, this place was small, unorganized, filthy, and had extremely small enclosures. I will not be back. Next time I will drive the additional hour and go to Pittsburgh Zoo.