This zoo is so cute! It's small enough (well compared to Fort Worth Zoo) to only need about two hours to complete if you add the train ride. Concessions are at the entrance near the Gift Shop. They do have a section under construction but I'm not sure what work is being done as the signs didn't communicate such. I found out that they DO take card payments now with an added fee! So if you decide to visit, you can pay with a card either online or at the entrance, both will have a fee though. Or just grab cash ($10 for 12 years and older, $5 for ages 4-11, and 3 and younger is free). Also the train ride accepts card (with an added fee) as well. Bring water bottles and enjoy your nature time! read more

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Love this zoo! Well kept, many animals, and diverse animals. Affordable, local, and a nice place to visit over and over. We bought season passes so we pop in for a nice walk in a cool place. read more

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What a great value! They had a wide variety of animals to see and free roaming peacocks. The walk is also shaded most of the route and has plenty of seating areas to take breaks and view the animals. There is also a small train, playground and small lake all in the same area outside the park. read more

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Our granddaughters just love this zoo ! Always clean ! The train is always a must !!! read more

For the location and price this was a worthwhile stop on our roadtrip. Our favorite things were the scenic and affordable train ride, free roaming peacocks, playful otters and tree shaded sidewalks. I would suggest clear labels and informational signs for animals in the SOLAR amphibian/reptile room. Google lens helped us identify a few animals. read more

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I absolutely love this zoo. They have a large variety of animals like lions, jaguars, giraffes and more. Kids just love to come here. The zoo is very affordable and they have an epic train ride outside the zoo for kids and adults to enjoy. I highly recommended this amazing zoo. read more

Ellen Trout Zoo - America Eagle - Zoos Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

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Very cool!! A must see while in Lufkin. We enjoyed it as much as we do the Dallas & Ft. Worth zoos! read more

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Ellen Trout Zoo rivals many of the zoos in much larger towns. It is much nicer than the Richmond Zoom and is very reasonably priced.

A really, really nice little Zoo located on the loop on the North side of Lufkin. They have around 800 animals at this Zoo that are also located by a lake and Park. Also included is a miniature train much similar to the Houston Zoo. Although not at big it more than makes up for it with the beautifully landscaped grounds and amenities. They have a refreshment stand, gift shop, and conveniently located restrooms. It is well laid out and you can complete the tour taking your time in around two hours. Lots of shade trees, fountains, and benches. They have Alligators, Flamingos, a White Rhino, Giraffe's, Hippos, which is why we went because our 6 year old wanted to see Hippo's. The Houston Zoo no longer has them! They have many different kinds of birds, Parrots, Macaws, Emus, Eagle's, King Vulture's, Kookaburra's and other including a healthy population of Peacocks and a couple of Albino Peacock's. They have a reptile house with a lot of snakes, lizards, turtles, poison dart frogs and others. It's a lot to see in a small setting and very well worth your money and time. The prices are very reasonable and your kids will really enjoy it. I've been through Lufkin many times and heard of it, but this is the first time we went just for the Zoo! I highly recommend it! read more

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My hometown zoo! Great staff & beautiful gardens. Animals are great & fun to look at , afterwards ride the mini train and walk the trails around the lake. Makes a fun afternoon. read more

Great little zoo! They have a large variety of animals including a reptile house, peacocks, alligators, a lion, hippos, a giraffe, and so many more. There are also concessions, a small gift shop, and a train that mostly runs on the weekend. I was delighted to find it was more than I expected and my family had a wonderful time. We can't wait to go back! read more

Ellen Trout Zoo - Zoos Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

We enjoyed all of the animals very much! It was a nice walk around the zoo - we purchased a Zoo Membership - we just wished that they had popcorn in their concession stand :) read more

This zoo really surprised me. I wouldn't think that a zoo in Lufkin, Texas would have so many animals or such cute displays, but I was pleasantly surprised. This place is such a bargain and is great to entertain the kids for a few hours. read more

Ellen Trout Zoo - Zoos Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

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Perfect size little zoo for younger kids! We went for the first time a few weeks ago and my kids loved it so much we got season passes

Very good zoo! Kinda of small, but good for the size of Lufkin. The employees at the check in place were nice. They have great animals like giraffes and lions. read more

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it's really cute and a homey zoo ! they hold lots of activities and are very kid friendly !! they have a nice train that takes u around ! negatives: not a lot of animals :( read more

Nice little zoo but beware they will sell you tickets at 4, we asked how long it takes to walk thru they said about 45 minutes. Thought we had til 5, but all the big animals were put away by 4:30. Empty cages. Hippo was still there but kids were really disappointed to not see the big cats and rhino. came back two days later asking if we could go in for just 20 minutes to see the big animals they put away earlier a couple days ago, and they said no. Manager said no too, so that was sad. The lone duck in the Asian bird area was so sad just walking back and forth trying to get out, just needs one other duck to be happy people just one more duck friend. Train ride we did that day instead was very nice, conductor was friendly and they liked going around the park on the train. Train runs fri-sun, if kids are young, would plan accordingly and make sure to get to zoo earlier than an hour before close time or you may be very disappointed. read more

Although the zoo is beautiful, the animals seem so bored and depressed. Now I know that not every time you go to the zoo the animals will be active. However, I've lived around here my whole life and have never seen most of these animals move from where they're sitting. And I'm not sure or not if most of the animals have been around for an extended period of time or not, but for the most part they all look really old and rugged. The zoo has always had the same decor and same layout. Just wish it could change up a bit! read more

Small children? This is a wonderful zoo for those kiddos under 10. They are able to walk the whole zoo. Animal enclosures don't have huge barriers, so it gives an up close & personal feel. We go every year. Our boys love the peacocks running around & this year they had several animals with babies! Bring cash, their credit card machine is down a lot for the gift shop & concessions. After the zoo, check out the train & playground across the street. All is located on the park grounds. read more

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Pleasantly surprised!!! First visited the zoo on a whim, saw the very small sign while passing through Lufkin & pulled in. Have never heard of the zoo before & wasn't expecting much based on the size of Lufkin, but was very much impressed with the diversity of endangered species rarely seen at even the largest zoos!! Have made it an annual tradition to stop & tour the zoo. read more

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For a city the size of Lufkin, this is an impressive little zoo. It has some exotic large animals (hippos, lions, giraffe), as well as quite a few tropical birds. As another reviewer noted, there are quite a few peacocks just roaming the grounds, so be aware. The nice thing about this zoo is that the size makes the whole thing easily seen in an afternoon, and the layout is almost foolproof. You won't get lost or need a map, because it's basically just one big loop. Parking was easy, and the admission fee was under $10. read more

It's a pretty small zoo, but for a relatively small town in Texas, I was pleasantly surprised with what we saw. It was incredibly hot the day we want but fortunately there was plenty of shade which made it somewhat tolerable. You will mainly find smaller animal exhibits here, but they did have giraffes, rhinos, a lion and a tiger. In the one snake exhibit, it was evidently feeding day and we saw two dead rabbits in the cage, one of which had a decent amount of blood on it. My kids were a bit traumitzed by that. Plan on spending under two hours to get through the zoo. There is a small gift shop in the front and some vending machines in the park where you can get a drink. The vending machines do take wireless payments, such as ApplePay, but it was a bit slow. There is also a nice train ride outside of the zoo that goes around the park, across the lake, and through the forest. It's only $2 to ride the train and it's about a 10 minute train ride. If you want, you can just come to ride the train and not pay the zoo entrance fee. You will also find a playground near the lake but I guess you need to watch out for alligators, as there are signs posted around that they are in the lake. I guess if you feel daring, they do offer paddle boats in the lake! It was way too hot for us, so we only did the train ride. If you find yourself looking to kill a few hours with kids, I think you'll enjoy coming here. read more

Really neat zoo. I felt bad thinking about that these animals were in captivity and not free in the wild but it was cool seeing animals I wouldn't be able to see besides on TV. read more

This is a great little zoo to visit. It's not real big, but they have some great animals there. Also not a bad price to get in and if you go on a Sunday or Monday and get there before like 10am they let you in for free. I also like the tree coverage they got where the sun doesn't hammer you the whole time. There is also a little train ride you can do for only a couple of bucks and several play areas for kids. We live an hour and a half away and visit this zoo quite frequently. I would definitely recommend you give this zoo a shot. read more

The zoo was great but when we got to the train the grouchy old man would not take our change to ride as they do not accept credit cards to ride. Easy fix sale train rides at the ticket booth. read more

I work at a local museum and if our visitors are looking for something else to do in Lufkin, I ALWAYS recommend visiting our Zoo. Its just spectacular! The zoo is just the right size where you can see everything without the little ones getting tired/grumpy. There is plenty of shading with the landscaping which is great for how hot it can get in East Texas. The animals always seem happy and are usually pretty easy to see. Of course, you also need to ride the train! read more

What a geat place to bring the family. Unlike other zoos it is not so large that you are exhausted when done. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to tour and has a lot of shade which keeps you cool. There are many small and large animals and the exhibits are close to the animals so you feel like you are in the cage with them. Next time you pass through Lufkin make a stop here! read more

pretty tiny...but interesting. a lot of peacocks..like A LOT. they're as common as pigeons in this zoo..saw them so much that the toddler left with a new word. noticed quite a few empty displays as well. favorite "animal" of the toddler was the huge train locomotive. very shady. came in just as it opened which was smart because as soon as we were done breezing through the place, the parking lot was packed and the day was getting hot. rode the train. zoo takes credit cards, train does not. great to know that there's a zoo close by when the toddler gets older. read more

This is a great zoo! For a city is this size I was amazed at how nice and extensive the exhibit is. It's a real treat, and a great value !

This is such a cute zoo! It is really a treasure of Lufkin to have it. It is very fun for adults and kids. The peacocks who roam free make things quite interesting. The train that runs by the lake and the playgrounds make for extra fun. We visit the zoo at least once a month and always take our out of town visitors there. read more

Cute little zoo and more animals than I thought. Located on a lake with a playground nearby. Apparently peacock mating season when we visited and their mating calls could be heard throughout the entire zoo. The guy at the ticket counter even asked me if I wanted to buy a peacock for $15, he said they were overrun with peacocks. The animals were eager to please and came right out as if on cue. They even have a cute little concession stand near the exit and the food is cheap! We tried to ride the train however the train ticket office doesn't accept debit or credit cards- cash only. read more

Haven't been in years,a lot has changed and a lot is still the same,very friendly staff they are very knowledgeable about the animals. The selection of animals was very good,so much to see. Will be back again. read more