Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo

About Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo

The Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo is a privately owned roadside attraction at 847 Whittington Avenue in Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas. It is built around a large collection of American alligators, with a petting zoo and a small museum. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the Bridges family has owned it since 1947, and it is the oldest still-operating attraction in Hot Springs. The attraction is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the farm has about 200 alligators. Its website is alligatorfarmzoo.com.

History

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says H. L. Campbell founded the attraction in 1902 with reptiles brought from the Florida Everglades. Roadside America refers to him as Hubert Alligator Joe Campbell and says he traveled the world collecting curiosities before establishing the farm. A 2013 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article describes the original purpose as providing family entertainment beyond the bathhouse attractions of Hot Springs.

The encyclopedia records the following ownership sequence. In 1929 the farm was sold to Danny Older and renamed the Hot Springs Gator Farm. In 1947 it was purchased by Jack Bridges Sr. and became the Arkansas Alligator Farm. Jack Bridges Jr. acquired the business in 1965, and in 2016 his children, Jamie and Jerry Bridges, took over ownership, with Jamie serving as manager. Wikipedia gives a different year, 1945, for the sale to Jack Bridges Sr.

Early in its history the farm raised alligators for their hides and sold live animals to zoos and parks, and the encyclopedia credits it as a pioneer in using incubators for alligator eggs and hatchlings. The same entry says the farm no longer slaughters or sells alligators. After Jack Bridges Jr. took over in 1965, the encyclopedia says, he added monkeys, raccoons, loggerhead turtles and a gift shop.

The encyclopedia also records a baseball connection: on March 17, 1918, Babe Ruth hit a 573-foot home run over Whittington Avenue that landed at the farm. Wikipedia places the landing in the farm's second pond and notes that the ballpark across the street was then the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Roadside America notes that a spot on the grounds marks where the ball landed.

Exhibits and habitats

Roadside America says the alligators are kept in outdoor pits in warm months and in a wintering barn, under heat lamps, for about six months of the year. The 2013 newspaper article reported over 150 alligators at that time, with the largest on record measuring 18 feet 11 inches and estimated at 125 years old when it died, and the largest then living just over 11 feet. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the farm's alligators are donations or come from Louisiana's Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, and that it restocks every 10 to 15 years with 12 to 15 baby alligators.

The petting zoo animals listed on the farm's website are rabbits, ducks, emus, pygmy goats and sheep; the encyclopedia adds donkeys, peacocks, ring-tailed lemurs and silkie chickens. The encyclopedia says about 50 parakeets live in an interactive enclosure, and the website lists parakeet feeding tickets.

The Merman, a mummified specimen, is a long-running display. Roadside America says the owners were told it was captured off the coast of Hong Kong and turned down an offer for it from Ripley's in the 1960s. A small tombstone on the grounds commemorates a dog killed by alligators in 1906, according to the same source.

Conservation and programs

The farm's website lists a hand-holding experience with baby alligators, paid alligator feeding tickets and a live alligator feed show during the warm months, held at noon on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The 2013 newspaper article describes the feeding schedule as running from May through October and says the alligators are fed chicken coated with vegetable oil.

Planning your visit

As listed on the farm's website for spring and summer 2026, the attraction is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The farm lists a phone number of 501-623-6172. Ticket prices, group rates and discounts are on the farm's website.