How we research and correct

Everything on Feather & Fang describes a real place, and most of it is the kind of detail that changes. This page explains where the information comes from, how it's checked, and what we do when it's wrong.

Where the information comes from

We start with the zoo's own website: its about, history, animals and visitor pages. After that come the city, county or state agency that runs it, Wikipedia, and dated reporting from local news. Each zoo page lists the sources it was built from, and prices and hours link to the exact page they were read on, with the date we checked.

When sources disagree — two different founding years, or an animal count that differs between pages — we either say so and attribute each figure, or use the zoo's own number. We don't pick the most impressive one.

How articles are written and checked

The longer articles on zoo pages are written only from the sources listed on that page. Each draft is then checked sentence by sentence against those sources in a separate pass. Anything that can't be confirmed is cut rather than softened: animals a zoo no longer holds, prices, rules or events we couldn't find on an official page, and claims that appeared only in a visitor review or a photo caption.

Articles describe; they don't judge. They contain no ratings and no first-person opinions. Prices change often: the admission figure at the top of a zoo page carries the date we checked it, and any price mentioned in an article is as the zoo listed it — always confirm on the zoo's own site before you go.

Accreditation

When we say a zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), that reflects AZA's own records. Other bodies, such as the Zoological Association of America, are named as the zoo describes them and never presented as AZA accreditation.

Incidents and inspections

We include animal-welfare, safety or legal incidents only when a dated news report or government record confirms them. They're stated plainly, with the date and the source, and without characterisation. Claims that rest only on an advocacy campaign or social media are left out.

Closures

Zoos that have closed, aren't open to the public, or can't be confirmed to exist are removed from the directory. Places that take visitors only by appointment stay listed, and their pages say so.

Corrections

A directory this size will contain mistakes. If you find one, tell us. Substantive corrections are made in place with a dated note; we don't quietly rewrite a page. Small fixes, like a typo or a broken link, are made without a note.