Arkansas Alligator Farm

847 Whittington Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901 USDA #71-C-0006

Why pay to further the exploitation of wild animals?  You could teach your kids better lessons.  Below are just a few of the reviews on TripAdvisor about this place.

USDA Reports

How is it that the public can detect so much suffering, but USDA can’t see it?

2014 USDA Inspection shows unsafe housing and failure to keep animals warm in freezing weather. 

Reviews of Arkansas Alligator Farm

2022 There is a Puma in a very small cage at Arkansas Alligator Farm. The rest of the animals need rescued too. It was not a great place.

2021 SICK–cannot UNSEE If I could only give this place a negative infinite number of stars… I am absolutely SICKENED that there are people that make their living off of this disgraceful hell for animals of so many kinds. TRUST ME –MONEY MUST be changing hands here for so many to “overlook” this.

Honest to God, there is just now way I could describe the feeling of walking through this dispicable place, and even after leaving, and today, months later still haunted by the faces of the voiceless animals suffering here– (There HAS to be a special place in very “hot” place for the owners of this place).

The “lone” wolf howled in the 100 degree temps sitting in the dirt, next to a depressing tree, in a CAGE….Howled the whole time as we made our way around, probably wanting to be put out of it’s misery. The animals here were so disturbingly crowded –alligators bred out of control –piled —
I mean PILED on top of each other.  MANY MAMNY animals were sick, had infections —most seemed so depressed and despondent —all hungry for the “food pellets” being “sold” …it was indescribable.  Date of experience: August 2021

2021 November 2021 ANIMAL NEGLECT AT ITS FINEST  This place needs to be shut down NOW this is 100% animal neglect. We were vacationing in Hot Springs and decided to check out the Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo. Coming from Louisiana, we were very familiar with alligator attractions and wanted to check theirs out and see some animals. I have never in my life seen animals in this condition at a similar facility. Immediately we noticed that one of the young goats seemed “off” as he stood in a corner of the pen. Then I noticed that the two mules were in the smallest “pasture” with zero grass. I’ve owned horses all my life and I know that equines need minimum 2 acres per horse. The rabbits all had poor coat conditions with a “bumpy” feel to them, similar to mosquito/bug bites you see on dogs that stay outside and one of them had an eye infection. The chickens were in a small cage, one being separated in his own cage with missing feathers (probably from stress). Then came the worst part- the alligator building. I have never seen so many alligators in one confined area in all my life. Literally alligators were piled on top of alligators in each “tank”, some of them even looked dead. And they are just continuing to breed them because they had the eggs in the incubator on display, plus some newly hatched babies in a separate tank. As I said- I am used to seeing alligator attractions back home in Louisiana everywhere…we even have them in casinos but they have bigger tanks are are able to swim around and generally seem healthy and content. These gators can barely move being piled on top of each other, much less swim in their 4 inches of water. The guenon was in a filthy cage, sitting in his own diarrhea, drinking dirty water. His eyes looked sick too and he just looked miserable. The wolf and wild cat outside paced the fence the entire time in their own tiny cages. We stayed at a campground and after talking to the people staying next to us, we learned that they experienced the same thing. They even made one of the employees prove to them that one of the alligators wasn’t dead and noticed one with a mouth that seemed to be rotting. Then after seeing other reviews from months ago, I’m noticing that this is an issue. Same report of rabbits with eye infections long before we visited and commenting on the insane amount of gators. Something needs to be done immediately. Please do not support this place with your money if you have any love for animals. If you really want to simply hold an alligator because it’s “cool”, visit any place in Louisiana and get it done. I promise you they are much better taken care of. And any zoo gives better veterinary care (if any at all) than this place. This is simply a trashy backyard petting zoo with no knowledge of proper animal care. And this is coming from a licensed veterinary technician. Absolutely sickening.  Date of experience: November 2021

2021  SICK–cannot UNSEE  If I could only give this place a negative infinite number of stars… I am absolutely SICKENED that there are people that make their living off of this disgraceful hell for animals of so many kinds. TRUST ME –MONEY MUST be changing hands here for so many to “overlook” this.

Honest to God, there is just now way I could describe the feeling of walking through this dispicable place, and even after leaving, and today, months later still haunted by the faces of the voiceless animals suffering here– (There HAS to be a special place in very “hot” place for the owners of this place).

The “lone” wolf howled in the 100 degree temps sitting in the dirt, next to a depressing tree, in a CAGE….Howled the whole time as we made our way around, probably wanting to be put out of it’s misery. The animals here were so disturbingly crowded –alligators bred out of control –piled — I mean PILED on top of each other.

MANY MAMNY animals were sick, had infections —most seemed so depressed and despondent —all hungry for the “food pellets” being “sold” …it was indescribable.
Date of experience: August 2021

2021 Should be used as a PETA fund raiser.  To quote my friend who recently visited for the first with his wife and his grandchildren, “I am no fan of PETA, but someone needs to call them.”  Date of experience: May 2021

2021 Not worth the money.  I read the reviews saying it was sad and animal abuse and went anyways. There is no grass, there is no room for the gators, just more gators. The gift shop has lots of authentic gator heads and feet for sale. Wonder why that is? Oh because their animals are dying. The rabbits looked like they needed a good worming. The Silkie chickens looked pitiful. The tortoises have the tiniest space for 2 huge turtles. The snapping turtles have no access to get out of the water which I thought they needed? The wolf kept moving trying to be where she couldn’t be seen. Terrible, terrible, terrible. There’s nothing to be learned since nothing educational is ever said. The animals are not who is benefiting from any money given, but the owners are likely making a killing since the place is packed with lots of people paying $5 to feed the gators a hot dog. Ridiculously overpriced to see animals who aren’t taken care of.  Date of experience: May 2021

2019 Sad The employees were very kind, but conditions for the animals are very sad. Small cages, isolated animals. I wouldn’t come again.  Date of experience: March 2019

2018 HORRIBLE!! READ THIS!!  The animals are absolutely miserable!! The wolves really hit me hard. The ears were VERY infected – not place to eat, drink, or relax out of the sun. The alligator water look as if it hasn’t been cleaned in months. The tanks are too small for the amount of gators. The puma has a extremely small enclosure. This overall was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Do not support these poor suffering babies.  Date of experience: August 2018

2018 Horrible!  This place is the worst zoo I’ve ever visited. I was horrified by the conditions these poor animals must live. The cages are too small and absolutely no stimulation. Some didn’t even have water, food or sunlight. This place should be shut down. Do not support this facility! It breaks my heart to see these animals having to endure this kind of life! If I could give a negative rating I would!  Date of experience: July 2018

2018 Small enclosures  Our 4 year old granddaughter enjoyed this and most children would, feeding the goats and donkeys and holding a baby alligator. But we adults were saddened by the size and barrenness of the wolf, cougar and raccoon pens. The monkeys were a little better off. The staff was friendly. There were three male peacocks in a small pen with only one female, and one of the males was seriously terrified of the other two, but unable to remove himself from their vicinity. …I mentioned this to staff and he said it was too bad they don’t have more females to reduce their feuding.  Date of experience: May 2018

2018 Sickening  This is one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Many of the animals are kept in pins with gravel or concrete. They have no stimulation at all. The wolves look like they have been broken of any will they had left. When I went, it was around 80 degrees outside, and they had no water in their tiny enclosure. They had nothing to do and you could see how sad and miserable they were. They lived on dirt. It was unbearable.

The cougar was in an even smaller cage than the wolves. It was morbidly obese. It was so fat that its stomach would almost drag the ground when it stood up. Patches of fur were missing all over its body. The underside of it looked as though it was covered in some kind of rash. It had no stimulation in the cage and looked as though it had dead eyes. Like it was just waiting for the moment some one made the mistake of getting within reach of it.

The snapping turtles are all piled inside of a fountain that looked as though they had been in it for months.  Finally, the racoons may have been the saddest part. One racoon laid in the corner of the 6’x6′ cage with arms stretched through the chainlink. It had its eyes wide open and didn’t move or blink for several minutes. I thought it was dead but it was apparently just too sick to move. The other racoon in the cage moved its head back and forth in front of the cage door looking for a place to escape. It did this for the entire 20 minutes I was watching. It was still doing this 30 minutes later when I left. If they want to have an alligator farm, that’s fine but shut the zoo part down. This is absolutely horrible how they treat animals here. I want people to go so they see it for themselves but these horrible people don’t deserve any money unless they’re going to upgrade this facility.  Date of experience: April 2018

2017 making a buck off of suffering animals  I cannot believe this place has over 60% positive reviews…where is your human decency people?!? These poor animals are in horrible conditions. There is no semblance of a pleasant or natural environment provided for them. I am ashamed this establishment got a penny of my money. We left feeling rotten. It’s a disgrace.  Date of experience: November 2017

2017 Really disturbing  Review of Arkansas Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo  Reviewed 10 March 2017 via mobileI really don’t have anything positive to say about this attraction. It is a bunch of caged exotic animals in a suburban residential area, and it’s every bit as depressing as it sounds.

As advertised, there are many varieties of animals: goats, sheep, donkeys, emus, lemurs, raccoons, tortoises, peacocks, turkeys, ducks, wolves, and of course alligators. But it’s just not enough space and the cages are sparse and sad. Why cage in ducks? So the alligators don’t eat them, I get that, but then why have ducks at all? We’ve all seen ducks. Let them go live in a park. The wolves raccoons, and lemurs don’t possibly have enough space to be active.

It also felt really unsafe. The staff told me my kid and I could “go on into the goat pen” if we wanted to, and sent us back unchaperoned and unaccompanied to fend for ourselves. We passed. The goats were running about, head butting each other (as goats do); I didn’t want to be in the middle of that, much less send in my 5 yo. Similarly, as you can see in the photo, the alligator enclosure is mostly open on the sides and totally open on the top. It all seems to operate in the premise that, “Nah, the animals don’t want to hurt people.” But what if one DOES? I don’t want a goat head butting my kid or a gator lunging at him. This is my kid we’re talking about. I’m not comfortable assuming that, well, he’ll probably be okay.

So, in summary, not for me. I do want to mention I have no issue with zoos or farms in general, as long as the animals are well cared for. This is not an experience I would recommend.  Date of experience: March 2017