We visited the Mill Mountain Zoo for a special occasion: Christmas Lights. This event started at 5:00 pm. By the time we arrived it became dark. The admission officer gave us special glasses to look at the lights outside. One set made the lights become a big star and one set made them have bells.
We were disappointed to see the size of the zoo, it was a very, very small zoo. The cages did not have lights so we could only see a couple of the animals. Some animals were also not in their cages because it was too cold for them. The zoo specializes in Asian species so we saw a couple of snakes from Asia, a snow leopard, a fishing cat who just slept, a red panda, apparently cold. The snow leopard interested us the most. He was on a tree licking himself when we first spotted him, later he came down and walk like the guys in the prison yard: one way a little, then turn and walk the other way. We were happy that he had lots of snow, but he had such a small cage. Like the other animals, we felt sorry for him.
Although we initially wanted to have a train ride and already paid $2.00 each for it, we changed our minds after seeing the size of the railway. We learned that the zoo is going to expand and is planning to have an Asian architecture. May be then it may worth a visit. I am only happy that my admission fee is used to feed the poor snow leopard. I wish we could all do more for animals in captivity.