Charles Paddock Zoo

About Charles Paddock Zoo

Charles Paddock Zoo opened in 1955 in Atascadero, California, and now operates under the name Central Coast Zoo. It sits inside the wooded Atascadero Lake Park, at 9305 Pismo Avenue, and is the only zoo in San Luis Obispo County accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The zoo describes AZA accreditation as the gold standard for animal welfare, and says its animals are part of globally managed conservation programs working to preserve species and their wild habitats.

The zoo says it is home to about a hundred species from around the world, kept in a park setting that also includes play equipment, lawns, walking pathways, and a lake with paddleboats. It is run with support from an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that funds improvements and conservation programs at the zoo, and volunteers are described as playing a leading role in the zoo's day-to-day animal care throughout its history.

Exhibits and habitats

The zoo organizes part of its collection around the concept of biodiversity hotspots, regions identified for their high number of endemic species and the severity of the threats those species face. The zoo highlights animals from several of these regions, including Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands, the Succulent Karoo in Africa, Indo-Burma and the Himalaya in Asia, and the Tropical Andes, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean in the Americas. It also draws attention to the California Floristic Province, the hotspot region in which the zoo itself is located.

Animal highlights

No species list is published for the zoo in the sources available, so this section is necessarily limited. The zoo describes its collection broadly as home to about a hundred species from around the world, without naming most of them individually. One animal the zoo does call out specifically is a pair of burrowing owls, which bred successfully at the zoo in 2018, producing eight chicks in what the zoo says was the pair's first successful breeding there.

Conservation and programs

As an AZA-accredited institution, the zoo participates in the Association's Animal Programs, cooperative efforts that create tools, partnerships, and conservation strategies intended to maintain genetic diversity and sustainable, healthy animal populations across accredited zoos. The zoo says it works hands-on with conservation partners in the field, citing work vaccinating California condors and counting monarch butterflies, and that it financially supports conservation projects ranging from turtle to red panda conservation. It also describes itself as part of a pilot program providing immediate homes for confiscated illegal wildlife, working with the Wildlife Confiscations Network.

Planning your visit

As listed on the zoo's website, the zoo is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., though its hours shift seasonally, running Thursday through Monday from Labor Day to Memorial Day and daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Confirm current days and hours, since they can change, on the official site before visiting.

• Admission as listed on the site: $15.50 for general visitors ages 13 and up, and $13.50 for Atascadero residents, seniors 65 and older, military families, and students with ID. Group rates for parties of 15 or more, with prior booking required, are $13.50 per adult and $8.50 per child.
• Tickets are sold at a kiosk at the zoo's entrance gate, or inside the gift shop when the kiosk is closed; only same-day tickets are available, with no advance sales. Zoo memberships are also offered, including a 50% reciprocal discount on admission to other AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums.
• The zoo sits within Atascadero Lake Park, which also offers a playground, walking paths around the lake, paddle boating, and fishing, making it easy to combine a zoo visit with a full day in the park.
• The zoo's website includes an accessibility widget intended to improve compliance with web content accessibility guidelines; specific on-site accessibility features for the zoo grounds are not detailed in the sources available.

Confirm current hours, admission prices, and any seasonal changes on the zoo's official website before your visit.