cherokee bear zoo

They actually had more animals than I thought they would have. Many of course native to the area plus some others. Price was fair for the size of the Zoo. Located on the main road in downtown Cherokee. If you have kids they always love a Zoo no matter the size.

It was very cold on the day that we went, so that would explain why we were not able to see the iguanas and other animals that maybe put away because of the cold. We all bought food trays many times to feed the bears they were so entertaining! I've seen lots of zoo exhibits, and I believe that these bears are being treated humanely. They are very well fed by both visitors and staff, and they all know what food you may have to feed them. They will sit up and do tricks of many types to get food. They often caught it with their mouth. There was a couple baby bears, but they were in the den and we're not viewable. There were also several pygmy goats to play with and feed. The pygmy goats were very friendly, excited, and sociable.We were return here again if we are back in this area.

Im a animal lover so the chance to hold a bear i jump at it. The owner was nice nd informative. Bears Look heathly and feed well.

I absolutely love visiting the Cherokee Bear Zoo. I have been going there ever since I was a kid. Every time we go to cherokee, which is a lot, we always find away to stop my the bear habitat to feed the bears. The staff is very nice and it is a great place to take your family, especially the kids, to see the bears. They even turn in circles and do funny things that young children will definitely enjoy.

My children loved feeding the goats and we even seen 3 babies that were oh so cute and the bears were all fat, beautiful clean shiny coats and happy. The only thing i'd change is maybe renovate the bear viewing area to make it more child friendly, other than that, its an amazing place and peta needs to stay away and go bother somewhere else.

The folks at the Cherokee Bear Zoo are super nice and take great care of their animals. The bears are very entertaining to watch and well cared for. This is a great place to take your kids, they will love it!

First, the good. The facility appeared to be well maintained. The bear pens were clean. Even the goat pen looked freshly cleaned. The staff was pleasant. The water tanks in the bear pens looked clean. The food trays that were for sale were even clean. The food looked fresh. The bears appeared to be well fed. The goats looked to be in good body condition as well. Now the bad. This is a horrible "habitat" for bears. All of the bears. It is the furthest thing from a natural habitat. Basically, they are keeping them in concrete pits. Concrete floors. Concrete walls. No natural bedding down on the outdoor runs at all. Nothing. Just concrete. The only thing the bears every see are the concrete walls, each other, and humans 20 feet or so above them. The truly saddest part of this whole thing was looking at the bears in their concrete pits and then looking at their real habitat just on the other side of their concrete walls. By real habitat I mean a river they will never walk in, mountains they will never hunt or forage in. They are at the mercy of their captors and it's really so sad. We would have paid 20 bucks each to see these bears in a more suitable habitat. Concrete walls do not cut it. The Kodiak Grizzlies in particular are a sad case to me. Knowing their native habitat is the most beautiful Alaska and here these guys are in a concrete pit. Very sad indeed. If you are going to be a zoo, then be a zoo, get with the times. Renovate your facility and charge more. We would pay. But to pay 5 bucks to see these animals being kept this way is not worth it. I noticed one black bear sitting in a corner weaving back and forth. It did not look happy. The Kodiaks were walking in circles acting like they were trying to forage but of course they can't. It's concrete. Very sad. Even my 10 yr old child left feeling sad.

PETA has shut down the bear zoo that I grew up visiting (Chief Sanoukee?), but this exhibit survives (for now). I should probably feel like a bad person for loving this so much, but I just can't. It is too much fun.Other people have complained that there should be more animals, but I think $5 per person (plus $1 per plate of food) is more than reasonable. There were seven total bears (two Kodiak and five black bears) and also some goats down the way (signs were there for monkeys, but they must be put away for the winter). The bears looked perfectly healthy and happy. Yes, it is a little sad that they live their lives in concrete pens, but they are a lot better off than the cow that I had for dinner. They did tricks (sitting on their back legs and waving) for food. They especially loved the apples.I have fond memories of this and was glad that I was still able to do it.

Fun! $5/person to get in and $1/per plate of food to feed the bears. Most inexpensive thing we did in Cherokee. There were 5 different concrete inclosures of bears. You walk up on deck and look down at bears. Most of them will sit back on bottom and back legs and clap hands together for food. One bear was a little slow and the bread landed on his back. The whole time we were there it didn't move, bless his heart. Then when you get done with the bears there are monkeys and goats to see. You can also feed goats with 25 cent gunball feed machines. Be careful the goats get agressive towards each other when they know you have food. There is a bathroom in the store when you leave to animals so you can wash your hands. The bathroom was about out of soap and toilet paper when we were there.

We stopped here for some lighthearted fun after visiting the Oconaluftee Indin Vilage. It's $5 to get in which is not bad and the plates of food are $1 each. We must have spent $15 on food because the Bears have learned tricks to get treats. They will wave and spin. We enjoyed our time but don't expect to spend more than 30 min or so here. There are other animals including Pygmy Goats you can feed and also monkeys and lemurs.

Needed more animals and one poor bear got hurt when we saw it and the clerk wasn't to much in a hurry to help the little bear :/ broke my heart a bit

One of our most fun stops while on vacation in the smoky Mountains of NC, is Cherokee, NC and the Cherokee Bear Zoo! You also get to see and pet goats, see Monkeys too!!!! Its a fun place...

There is a $5 admission fee and additional costs for food to feed the bears. Depending on the time of year there may be a bear bub or tiger cub in site. In addition to the bears there is a beautiful tiger, various monkeys, goats, and a dabbing of other animals. Feeding the bears is the most fun as they have learned tricks that make then extra cute. We visit every trip to Cherokee.

I did enjoy seeing the bears but would have liked to have seen them in bigger areas. They looked to confined in their spaces and I feel like they need more "nature" in their habits. The workers there were caring of the animals and the bears were entertaining to watch.

Great little road side zoo. The bears looked happy and healthy. The rest of the few animals were good, too. We come here every year and usually get a pic taken with a baby animal. I've done it with a bear and a tiger but this year there were none :( I was looking forward to it but hey, it is what it is. Overall a nice place.