The Jackson Zoo currently is receiving visitors and can accept payments with all three cash and credit cards and debit cards.
The zoo changed ownership in 2019, becoming a city-owned zoological park under the then-serving mayor of Jackson Chokwe Antar Lumumba. Before it was run by a non-profit, the Jackson Zoological Society.
Lumumba then partnered with ZOOceanarium, LLC, out of the city of Dubai, in the UAE, to manage the Jackson Zoo but that deal fell through in 2021.
Currently the Jackson's Department of Parks & Recreation are running the zoo.
I recently visited the zoo. Here's a selection of my notes of my visit:
I saw a black bear, an ostrich, flamingos, swans and gibbons. No elephants, no giraffes. There was a rhinoceros. Many cages and enclosures were off limits and empty. The snakes exhibit is closed. Very little of what I remembered as a child in 2006 was open. Several sections of the zoo were off limits.
There is a hole in the ostrich fence at the ostrich exhibit.
Drink vending machines say 'exact change only' while operable. Cards are accepted taking cash and change. Vending Machine drinks cost 2.25 dollars and 2.50 dollars
Loud gibbons, while secured, are visible and in their cages when visitors approach.
The carousel built in 2006 is turned off for maintenance.
Elephant Cafe, which closed, is under renovation and will reopen soon.
The Zoo no longer sells candies or sweets or any food visible except in vending machines in the gift shop.
Zoo admission is 8 dollars per admission per person, and the zoo accepts payments in cash or credit card or debit card.
The gift shop is open, and there are several toys and several merchandise items available for purchase with card and cash.
Compared to my visits when I was a kid in 2006, the zoo appeared very empty. There was only one family there with children and no one else.
