Petting zoo/Pony rides in Jan

[peg2001]

Can anyone tell me if the petting area and pony rides at Fort Wilderness will be open and available in January? Also, are the animals still behind fences so that you can't actually pet them? We were there in Nov 2001 and with the fears of some disease (hoof and mouth??), you couldn't actually touch the animals.

Thank you,
Peggy

 

[Memph1s]

They are still there but we did not go close enough last week to know for sure. However, in October you could pet them but they were no longer letting you feed them. So, it is up to the amiamls to come to you to be petted and most of the time they stay just out of reach. If a CM happens to come to the fence they all come a running thinking they may be getting feed.

 

[familydad]

We were there in November and with the exception of the ponies, you could pet all of the animals through the fence. There was also feed available (at about 25 cents per handful) that you could feed the goats, cows and donkeys. My daughter LOVED that place! We ended up getting a roll of quarters and filling up a ziploc bag with feed. If your kids will be into this, it appeared that the feed was alfalfa pellets (guinea pig or rabbit food). You can buy a huge bag at most pet stores and have a basically unlmited supply for feeding the animals...

 

[peg2001]

Thank you very much for the information. I'll look into bringing our own alfalfa pellets. What a great tip!

Peggy

 

[Memph1s]

Great to see that they are letting you feed them again. Thinking that we could not is why we did not go over to the petting zoo last trip. It was not much fun when all you could do was look.

 

[Rneighh]

Many commercial feeds are specially formulted for specific animals. Be sure the pellets you purchase are not medicated. For example, many sheep feeds have a medication for "coccidious" this medication is fatal to horses.

Renee