Guests Who are Blind or Have Low Vision

The Birmingham Zoo is proud to offer our newest resource, the Visually Inclusive Program or V.I.P. This program is designed to provide educational materials for guests who are blind or have low vision in order to enhance their experience throughout the Zoo.

The V.I.P bag can be checked out with a held photo ID at the Membership Office for no charge, and includes objects to touch, hear, and smell correlating to habitats throughout the Zoo. An educational guide explaining these items is available in written text, with a Braille version coming soon! For more information, or to reserve the V.I.P Bag in advance, please email the Education Department at education@birminghamzoo.com

In addition to the V.I.P. Bag, there are several tactile resources to enhance your experience.  Below is a list of tactile exhibits located throughout the Zoo:

• Trails of Africa

  • Elephant statue at Safari Peak

    

  • Baby giraffe statue at the Kiwanis Giraffe Encounter

  • Life-sized cinereous vulture cutout at Kiwanis Giraffe Encounter

• Primates/South America Building

  • Cast of jaguar paw print at jaguar habitat

  • Life-sized orangutan statue and cutout at orangutan habitat

• Reptile Building

  • Life-sized Komodo Dragon statue

• Alabama Wilds

  • Tree trunk featuring bear markings and bear paw prints at bear habitat

  • Life-sized golden eagle cutout at golden eagle habitat

Service Animals

All service animals must check in through our Guest Services office before being admitted on Zoo grounds. During your visit, please be sensitive to the Zoo animals.  If they seem distressed by your service animal’s presence, please step back from the habitat to help the Zoo animal to calm down.

For the health and safety of the Zoo animals, personal pets are not permitted.  The Zoo does not offer pet boarding facilities.