Ponderosa Zoo Review

Of all the zoos I've visited over the years, Ponderosa Zoo is definitely the one with the most meaning to me. It's the one I've visited the most and the one I've watched grow ever since childhood. I was always fascinated by it because there was simply nothing like it for miles around. 

I've tried to rebuild Ponderosa Zoo in both Zoo Tycoon and Planet Zoo on multiple occasions but this is my first time reviewing it in real life.

Profile

Name: Ponderosa Zoo
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire (England)
Foundation: 1991 (rare breeds farm) / 2011 (zoo)
Size: 11 acres (4.5 hectares)
Animals: 140 animals (36 species)

Memberships: BIAZA (2017)
Website: https://ponderosa-zoo.co.uk/

Ponderosa Zoo is a very tranquil site with some pretty landscaping.

Background

This family-run zoo traces its origins back to 1991 when it was opened as the Ponderosa Rare Breeds Farm by husband and wife Howard and Maureen Cook. It was part of a larger site called the Ponderosa Rural Theraputic Centre which was built on some old farmland. Howard was involved in the construction industry, so a lot of the construction work was carried out by him and his company.

The site was mainly used as a therapy centre for people with disabilities, helping them learn new skills through animal care and horticulture. Howard was recognised for his efforts and awarded an MBE in 2005.

A satellite image of the zoo in 2002, around the time I visited on a school trip. The zoo has changed considerably since then. (Google)

One of my earliest memories was visiting on a school trip in the early 2000s and seeing wallabies, emus, llamas, goats and some domestic water buffalo. A decade later, the collection had grown to include lemurs, meerkats, a South American tapir and various birds, reptiles and invertebrates. By 2011, the animal collection had expanded quicker than it could adequately be housed and, sadly, some of the worst enclosures I've ever seen were at this zoo during that period. 

Much to their credit, by 2017, the zoo turned things around and made huge improvements. It became a fully licensed zoo and a provisional member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. As part of this membership, it expanded its focus to conservation, and it changed its name to Ponderosa Zoo.

The zoo is situated on a gentle slope between two disused railway lines. It's a small site that takes around an hour to explore and it can all be seen by following a looping path circuit. As part of its accessibility ethos, virtually everywhere has been made wheelchair accessible. It's a very tranquil location with lots of beautiful landscaping, including mature trees, manicured bushes, colourful flowerbeds and a natural pond teeming with carp. A lot of it is maintained by volunteers, including those with disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The zoo is very popular with young families. For it's size, it's got a disproportionate number of children's playing areas: there's a boat-shaped one, two adventure playgrounds and some air bouncers. Obviously, being a zoo nerd, I'd prefer less of these to make way for more animal enclosures.

The Review (Visited January 2024)

The first animals you come across are a small group of African pygmy goats and llamas which can be viewed in a large field beside the car park. They overlook the entrance, which is a lone wooden cabin containing a ticket desk and gift shop.

One of the (somewhat) recent developments is a new entrance cabin and gift shop.

Once through the entrance, you find a grassy enclosure for around three Bennett's wallabies. They have access to several shelters and there's a few wooden posts where I assume keepers hang enrichment. Llamas and goats were kept here years before and you could feed them pallets from the giftshop, something I don't think you can do anymore.

The path then opens up to a meerkat enclosure, which is covered with a translucent PVC roof that reduces sunlight. Floor-to-ceiling chainlink and windows allow for up-close views of a very active and sizable mob which is always popular with young families. They have lots of rocks and branches, a natural substrate and a large heated den — a fairly average meerkat enclosure, save for the reduced sunlight.

The meerkat enclosure is fairly naturalistic but the translucent PVC roof reduces natural sunlight.

Adjoined to this is a rectangular cage for South American coatis which is heavily planted and home to four individuals. They've got four wooden shelters mounted on logs and a network of branches and hose to climb on (though I question the suitability of the hose). This is where the tapir used to be kept but I must say the coatis are a much better choice! I like how green this enclosure is but it's not the most attractive otherwise due to being a mishmash of different materials, some if it new and other parts noticably worn out — lose the metal support beams and hose and it would look a lot more natural.

The African crested porcupine enclosure with the South American coati enclosure in the background

In front of the coatis is a square, low-stone-walled enclosure for three African crested porcupines. They've got a natural substrate that is strewn with rocks and branches and a small indoor enclosure that is furnished sparsley with only a nest box and radiator. This indoor enclosure is part of a larger building which was recently renovated into a nocturnal house.

The Nocturnal House is one of the most significant developments at the zoo that replaces a previously lacklustre small mammal house. It begins with two glass-fronted enclosures, which are connected overhead via a mesh tunnel, for Northern Luzon giant cloud rats. They're narrow enclosures but with decent vertical space that is used for an assortment of branches and wooden platforms. Next along is a sizable enclosure for kinkajou, which is packed to the brim with climbing furniture (a mix of branches and wooden frames) and home to a very active and showy individual. The next and final area of the Nocturnal House is a room containing several smaller displays for chinchilla, budwing stick insect, Asian forest scorpion, Mexican redknee tarantula, skeleton tarantula, Guatamalan tiger rump tarantula, Macleays stick insect and fancy rats. These are all presented well with natural furnishings. The largest enclosure belongs to Malagasy giant jumping rats, which came from Chester Zoo and are quite rare. Overall, it's not the biggest noctural house you'll ever see but it's well maintained and each species is displayed appropriately.

Inside the newly-opened Nocturnal House, you can find some decent exhibits like this one for kinkajou.

Returning outside, there's a row of cages of various sizes; the first and smallest of which belongs to cockatiels. It's a decent size for the small birds but, believe it or not, it was once a very depressing raccoon enclosure. Next to it is a larger cage for common marmosets which is nice and airy and features enough climbing furniture, most of which is natural, but it could definiely use more greenery. There's also a window looking into their indoor accomodation, which definitely favours function over aesthetics.

The next enclosure in this row belongs to African spurred tortoises which looks like a greenhouse with its sides removed. It's a small space with just about enough room to roam and features a natural substrate, a pile of rocks, cabbage palms and a heated house. The next two cages are conjoined and belong to a small group of red-fronted brown lemurs. The smaller one has a nice rocky backdrop, whilst the other is twice the size and offers more climbing opportunities.

Whilst they're not dysfunctional, these cages don't meet the same standards as the newer developments.

Nearby, there's a very photogenic pond surrounded by beautiful landscaping, which is often used in wedding photography. The pond itself is teeming with huge carp and I remember seeing terrapins on visits years ago. The pond sits in front of a restaurant and events suite, which is where my family held my grandad's wake many years ago. They're businesses in their own right and can be accessed seperately from the zoo. More casual dining options can be found in a pizza shed (opened seasonally) and a cafe.

Behind the restaurant is a sizable enclosure for a serval that used to be someone's pet. It's surrounded on all sides by tall mesh fencing and features a small mound in the centre, covered with rocks and logs. It's biggest shortcoming is its lack of vegetation, especially for a species that likes to hide in tall grass.

More plants would greatly improve this serval enclosure.

Through a thick hedgerow nearby, you can catch a distant glimpse of four Père David's deer in a large grassy paddock. Sadly, this is the best view you'll get without leaving the zoo and viewing them from the restaurant car park.

Another significant development in this area is Lemur Lookout, a walkthrough enclosure for ring-tailed lemurs (and until recently black-and-white ruffed lemurs). It's a spacious netted enclosure sited in a wooded area, with a short path that loops back on itself. The lemurs can be found on an abundance of climbing frames made from a variety of natural materials or on the grass which covers a majority of the enclosure. It's one of the better exhibits at the zoo but if it had more plants and a few more lemurs, it would be even better.

Passing Lemur Bay, which is a beach area for kids, complete with a large boat built by Howard, there's an enclosure for raccoon dogs. It's a fair size, very green and abundant with enrichment. Its weakest point is its thick industrial mesh fencing which impedes viewing. Opposite the dogs are two reindeer enclosures on a wooded hillside; these are very naturalistic and their sloped elevations mean the reindeer can often be seen above the fenceline.

Both reindeer enclosures are very naturalistic.

The zoo then begins to slope back uphill with a row of enclosures. A long and narrow one belongs to Asian small-clawed otters. It's mostly mud and pebble, with a scattering of rocks and stumps, but there's also a concrete water feature with a waterfall ("waterfall" is probably overselling it; it's more of a trickling pipe). Overall, the enclosure is far from naturalistic, with a complete lack of any greenery and an ugly blue corrugated backdrop, but it's an acceptable size and has good viewing opportunities thanks to a row of large viewing windows. There's also a house, which has a window, but a standoff barrier prevents you from looking into it.

The otters are followed by two large terraced cages that feature tall viewing windows and an attractive wood panel facade — a far cry from the tiny, breeze blocked, PVC-windowed enclosures which were here before. Squirrel monkeys live in the first one. The lower part of their terrace is mostly concrete but the area above is a lot greener — unfortunately, it's too high to see the lower part of it. The enclosure is otherwise abundant with natural climbing frames and there's a small on-show house (nothing remarkable, with a few wooden shelves mounted to chipboard walls).

Scottish wildcats (right), squirrel monkeys (middle) and Asian small-clawed otters (left)

The cage next to it is occupied by Scottish wildcats and it's a lot greener with potted plants, bushes and large cuttings of coniferous branches. The elusive cats have access to a number of wooden nest boxes dotted around the enclosure. Again, the upper terrace is too high to see the lower parts of it so viewing opportunities for these small cats is mostly limited to the lower terrace. Luckily, they also have access to a seperate smaller cage on the side, which is very naturalistic, but not the best for viewing due to thick mesh.

Part of the Scottish wildcat enclosure.

Finally, there's the Reptile House which is another recent development that replaced an indoor playbarn. It's exterior is attractively decorated with wooden cladding and this is continued around the exhibits inside. The first window you find looks into a keeper area — it's a nice way of showing how the animals are cared for behind the scenes — and on the windowsil you can find two small tanks for giant thorny stick insects and death's head cockroaches. What follows is a series of four enclosures, beginning with one for a mixture of Cuvier's dwarf caimans and South American river turtles which is viewed through an underwater viewing window. There were around five caimans on a previous visit but there weren't any on my most recent one. The enclosure is evidently well maintained and has lots of rocks, logs and fake plants, as well as a small land area in the corner. The next enclosure is terraced, with red-footed tortoise on the lower part and black spiny-tailed iguana above. It's a very naturalistic display with lots of rocks, logs and plants, and I like the creativity of their complimenting spaces. Then there's a vacant enclosure, followed by one for mangrove snakes — again this is spacious and very naturalistic. Smaller displays can then be found for Sambava tomato frog, golden mantella, Standing's day gecko, giant Madagascan day gecko and blue-legged mantella. These are all sized like your average home terrariums but well furnished and maintained. The last two larger exhibits belong to black tree monitor and a mixture of Moroccan uromastyx and pancake tortoise. Both are a decent size and naturalistic.

An example of the exhibits in the Reptile House — this one for mangrove snake.

As far as I know, Ponderosa Zoo isn't involved in any breeding programmes yet but it definitely plays its part in conservation education. There's abundant signage, which gives basic info for each species, including on their conservation, and some of it has a QR code to scan for a more detailed audio recording. There's keeper talks for the reindeer, otters, serval and wildcats but these are only in the summer. There's several classrooms for juniors and group bookings for learning experiences (an educational tour of the zoo).

Ponderosa Zoo has changed a lot over the years and definitely for the better. Its exhibits can be summarised as avarage or even slightly above average in some cases. There's some good viewing opportunities to be had but, due to an overreliance on mesh, it's missing a lot of those close-up experiences that make zoo visits so memorable.

Before their passing, Howard and Maureen Cook presided over an establishment that evolved from a small rare breeds farm to a respectable zoo and they did it with the very honourable intentions of helping the disadvantaged, both human and wildlife. It wasn't always perfect but the last decade has delivered some very positive changes. It's my sincere hope that their son, who has taken the reigns, will continue these efforts.

A satellite image of the zoo today (Google)

If you're interested in my recreation of this zoo in Planet Zoo, be sure to check out my previous post. I'll also be doing a second version where I make the changes I'd love to see in real life!