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At 22 years old and growing stronger, Wildlife World Zoo has Arizona's largest collection of exotic animals, totaling over 2400 individual animals representing nearly 400 species.
Wildlife World Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). It is one of a few nationally accredited privately owned zoos in the United States. In 2004, the zoo was also inducted into the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). Only about one quarter of AZA's 200 plus member institutions are currently selected for membership in WAZA.
One satisfied zoo member comments: "If you want to see animals up close, this is the zoo for you. You won't find concrete sidewalks here, you are surrounded by nature. This place is a safe haven for animals, a present day Noah's ark."
Mickey Ollson is the Director and Founder of the Wildlife World Zoo. He opened the zoo in 1984, after several years of raising exotic animals, mainly birds. From the beginning he has believed that exotic animals are the stars of the show, up- close and personal for the visitors.
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The Wildlife World Zoo is definitely worth a morning or afternoon in the cooler months. They have the greatest collection of animals I've seen (and I've been to San Diego, San Francisco, and other major Zoos) with diversity and unique creatures you won't see anywhere else. Best in class for birds (yeah, I hear what you are saying... birds!? who cares?) but it is really an amazing and unusual collection. Best part is the proximity you get to the animals: inches away from jaguars, reach in and pet tortoises, feed giraffes! They have a decent train ride, nice carousel, and a african cruise (which, granted, needs some work).
As far as zoos go, the grounds need a little work and it gets dusty but this is one of the few places in AZ that knows the importance of shade! Over the years they've put in thousands of trees so that, for the most part, you can visit year round.