Sunrise Children's Zoo

Great petting zoo! You can buy food to feed the pets. They do not charge admission but please bring cash to do a free will donation and/or buy food! They have goats, sheep, a cow, donkeys(burrows), an alpaca, chickens & ducks, pigs, some kittens and other birds to look at. You can go into the goat, chicken/duck and sheep/cow pen. Possibly the pigs too but we didn't. I may have forgotten some of the animals. There is staff present to help you feed the correct food to the correct animals and to help with other questions or problems that may arise. They have a handwashing station to use when you are done. I think there was a porta-potty but I wasn't paying close attention to that.

We're from out of town but each time we're back visiting family our little one always requests to go feed the animals. Such a cute little park. Highly recommend to anyone with young children.

I took my daughter here on a Saturday. Entry is free. There is a free will donation box at the entrance, in which we did donate and hope everyone does. Yes, its a small zoo with farm animals but when you see the enjoyment on your kids faces when they feed the animals it is well worth the visit. Staff was awesome and friendly and knowledgeable about the animals. Highly recommend visiting

While not necessarily a destination "zoo" as a quick stop (30-45 minutes) while in Waterloo it's a nice little Petting Zoo. My elementary aged kids enjoyed seeing the animals up close, petting them, and feeding them. Since it's small I didn't worry too much about my youngest wondering off. I appreciate that this petting zoo is available for the Waterloo community giving kids & families an opportunity to experience animals up close. They have a hand washing station & a porta potty for use as well.

My son, daughter in law, my grandchildren, and I went to see the animals and when we arrived (at 3 pm on a Thursday), their was no person in sight. All the animals were visable, but the gate to get in was locked. According to their website they were open. It was a record breaking 102 degrees outside but we walked around the outside fence to see the animals and interact with them a bit. The horses seemed in distress in the heat. They did have a small shaded area to go to and water but no hay or food of any kind. The mule next to them had hay, and the horses were trying to get to it but couldn't. Then we noticed a wound on one of the horse's legs. It was very open and raw with flies gathered around it. The horse kept stomping to get the flies away. We called the number advertised several times but did not get anyone so we decided to call animal control to make them aware of the horse's injury. We had to leave them a message, and never got a return call. The sheep were also extremely stressed out and were panting and trying to get cool. I was very disappointed in the habitats they have these poor animals in. Small, hot, and not much food in site. They did have dirty water to drink thank God. This is just not humane! Not to mention they advertised to be open during those hours but they weren't. This place needs help. These animals need help! I want to add that I just learned they closed until Friday due to the heat. This is even more disturbing, as the animals were there with no fresh water to get away from the heat. Not ok.