The Traveling Wheelchair

201 County Street
Attleboro, MA  02703
Phone: 774-203-1840
http://www.capronparkzoo.com/

After seeing a picture of the ‘The King of Attleboro’ and reading the article, ‘Rare lion is zoo’s pride and joy’ in the City & Region section in the Boston Globe today, I decided to head to Capron Park Zoo to meet Ramses, the rare white lion and see how wheelchair accessible this zoo is. I was especially curious to see all the renovations the zoo has made for I haven’t been to this zoo since I lived in North Attleboro before I was disabled when it was just a small zoo with very few animals.

Capron Park Zoo is open: April - October: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM and November to March: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Parking is free in a large parking lot located right in front of the zoo entrance and there are many handicap parking spaces conveniently available right up front. Entry doors to the zoo are not automatic but are wide enough to fit my wheelchair through.  I think automatic entry doors would be helpful, not only for persons in wheelchairs but also for all the moms with children in strollers!
 
The entry doors lead into a gift shop where you purchase your admission tickets. Admission tickets for Attleboro Residents are: Adult $3.75; Child $2.75; Senior $2.75; Military $2.75; and for Non-Residents: Adult $5.50; Child $3.75; Senior $3.75; Military $2.75. Children under 3 are admitted for free.

The best part of all is that ADMISSION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITY is FREE and admission cost for disabled person’s companions is only $1.00! The entry cost for me, my mom and two friends was only $3.00! GREAT DEAL! 

The gift shop’s cashier counter where you purchase your admission ticket is a good height for my wheelchair and easy to complete my transaction. All items that are for sale in the gift shop are easy for me to see and reach from my wheelchair and all the zoo staff who I met were very kind, courteous and helpful.

Capron Park is set on eight acres of land and is the smallest zoo in New England but I found it to be the most wheelchair accessible zoo that I’ve visited. There are wide paved walkways through out the zoo that are easy to wheel along and all the exhibits have a location that is great for a person in a wheelchair to view the animals. No barriers or obstructing fences ever blocked my view of the animals from these locations.
 
I saw Ostriches, Kangaroos, Monkeys, Black Bears, Owls, Cranes, Bob Cats, Meer Cats and many rare and endangered species as well.  You can see from the pictures I placed below how easy it was for me to view these animals from my wheelchair.

My favorite exhibit was where Ramses, ‘The King of Attleboro’ resides. Ramses is a 450 pound white lion from South Africa.  He was brought to Capron Zoo to keep Kayla and Nyala, the lionesses company.

Ramses, the white lion is of a rare species for there are only about 100 to 500 white lions in the world! I learned a lot about rare lions when I visited  King Richard’s Faire so I fully understand how rare these beautiful lions are.

Capron Park Zoo also has a petting zoo and I really enjoyed feeding the animals in their Petting Zoo for access was very easy for me in my wheelchair. I could get close to the fence and the animals came right over to me and ate out of my hand!

After you feed the animals there is Hand Washing Station where you can wash and  sanitize your hands which is also wheelchair accessible. My mom was especially happy to see this since we were getting ready to eat lunch!

Rest Rooms are located in the front and the rear of the Zoo and all are fully wheelchair accessible and meet all the ADA requirements. A large handicap stall has plenty of room for my wheelchair and has all the needed safety grab bars. The accessible sink is a perfect height for my wheelchair and the pipes underneath are covered as well.
 
The Snack Bar is only open on weekends at this time of year but it is fully wheelchair accessible with a ramp leading to the ordering windows which are of a good height for  a person in a wheelchair to place an order. 

My friends and I packed a picnic lunch  and ate at the picnic tables in the zoo today. All picnic tables are wheelchair accessible but access to them is tough for they are located on crushed rock terrain that is very difficult to wheel though. It took two of my friends to pull my wheelchair to the picnic table.

Ric found it a little easier to pull my wheelchair backwards through this terrain. A Power Chair would travel on this rough terrain with more ease but I was in my manual wheelchair today for my Power Chair died and I am awaiting a new Power Chair. (And us in wheelchairs all know how long that can take!)

I would recommend a visit to this zoo to all and especially to persons in wheelchairs for it is not ony FREE ADMISSION for disabled but is is also very wheelchair accessible!
 
I give Capron Park Zoo FOUR STARS for wheelchair accessibility.  In order to earn the Fifth Star they would simply need to install automatic entry doors and pave a small section in the picnic table area so a wheelchair bound person can wheel to a picnic table with much more ease.