How To Start a Petting Zoo Business

Petting zoos are a major attraction for birthday parties, zoos, carnivals, and many other venues where children tend to congregate.  There is nothing more special than watching a child appreciate the wonders of nature and learn to be kind to animals.  For many children, a petting zoo offers children their first chance to experience animals other than dogs, cats and birds and will provide them with lasting memories.

So how do you break into the business?  Outlined below are some simple steps you can take in order to start your own petting zoo business.

1. Learn everything possible about the animals:  The first step in starting a petting zoo business is to find out as much as possible about the kinds of animals you want to keep.  Each animal has specific requirements for food, housing, and exercise that they need met each day in order to keep them happy and healthy.
2. Find a facility: The next step is to find a facility to house the animals.  This will generally need to include an indoor area large enough for each animal to have a comfortably sized pen and an indoor exercise arena as well as plenty of outdoor room to run and graze. You should determine the minimum size of the facility that you need and then multiply that number by 2.
3. Registration and licensing:  Contact your state and county departments to find out what you need to do to legally register and license your operation.  You may be surprised at the restrictions that may be imposed regarding size of operation, zoning ordinances, legality of possession of exotic animals, etc.  In order to be successful, you will need to comply with all state and local regulations regarding petting zoos.
4. Purchase adequate transportation for your zoo.  In order to transport your animals safely to and from gigs as well as to veterinarian appointments.  Leasing or purchasing a truck and livestock trailer, like a horse trailer, usually accomplishes this.
5. Purchase business insurance to protect your investments and yourself against liabilities and lawsuits.

This is the nuts and bolts of the process.  You will need to ensure that you and/or staff members are adequately training in exotic livestock care and have enough time to ensure that each animal is properly cared for.  This can be an extremely rewarding business to enter, but a disaster if you are not prepared.