Bergen County Zoological Park

About Bergen County Zoological Park

The Bergen County Zoological Park sits inside Van Saun County Park, which straddles Paramus and River Edge, New Jersey, and is operated by the Bergen County Parks Department. The zoo is open year-round and charges admission from May through October. It is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The land was originally a farm owned by the Van Saun family before the county acquired it.

Beyond the zoo itself, Van Saun County Park includes picnic areas, a baseball field, a softball field, basketball and tennis courts, a soccer field, a playground, a carousel, and pony rides. A ridable miniature railroad known as the Safari Express runs through the zoo grounds. As of a 2016 plan, the zoo was slated for a major expansion that would nearly double its footprint from 12 to 23 acres, significantly diversify its animal population, add an ice-skating rink, and expand automobile parking at the park by hundreds of spaces.

History

Before it became a park, the land held a spring where George Washington reportedly watered his horse in 1780, during the Continental Army's occupation of the area, and the spring later became a historic site within the park. Bergen County purchased the farm from the Van Saun family in 1957, and the zoo opened in 1960.

The park's railroad, the Van Saun Park Railroad, was first built in 1963 and today runs three trains: the 388, which accompanied the railroad's opening; the 389, purchased in 1968; and the 520, added in 1971. All three are Iron Horse S-24 narrow-gauge trains built by the Allan Herschell Company, and the ride carries passengers past the zoo's attractions and through railroad crossings and a tunnel. The train runs all week between April and October, weather permitting, and also operates during Bergen County's Winter Wonderland event from November through January.

A carousel was added in 2000, with seats styled as horses and other zoo animals; it operates every day through April and October, weather permitting, and also during Winter Wonderland. It has drawn some controversy over concerns about the owner's insurance coverage, but it holds a notable distinction regardless: after the Golden Horse Carousel at nearby Paramus Park closed in 2013 and the Venetian Carousel at Garden State Plaza closed in 2016, the Van Saun Park carousel became the last operating carousel in the entire borough of Paramus. Pony rides, in which an employee leads a pony around a small track, run from April to October. In 2013, the park added a dog park with separate areas for smaller and larger dogs.

The zoo has also had its share of animal incidents: in 1990, an ocelot seriously injured a boy by biting his hand, and three years later, another ocelot attacked a second boy. On the entertainment side, the zoo was the filming location for a punishment segment in a 2016 episode of the truTV series Impractical Jokers, titled "Ruffled Feathers."

Exhibits and habitats

The zoo's animal areas sit within the larger Van Saun County Park alongside its recreational features. The Safari Express miniature railroad and its three vintage narrow-gauge trains carry riders past the zoo's exhibits, while the nearby carousel, decorated with horses and other zoo-animal figures, and the pony ride track sit adjacent to the animal habitats. As of the 2016 expansion plan, the zoo intended to significantly diversify the species in its collection alongside the acreage increase from 12 to 23 acres.

Animal highlights

No species list is published for the zoo. The available information confirms ocelots have been part of the collection, based on two recorded incidents involving the animals, and notes that the 2016 expansion plan called for significantly diversifying the zoo's population of animal species as part of the acreage increase.

Planning your visit

As listed for the park, the Bergen County Zoological Park is open year-round, with admission charged from May through October. Van Saun County Park is reachable by public transportation via New Jersey Transit bus lines 168 and 752, though the 752 does not run on Sundays. Beyond these details, current hours, ticket prices, parking arrangements, and accessibility information were not available in the sources used for this page — check the official Bergen County Parks website before you visit.

The park also hosts several recurring events through the year: Zoo Boo around Halloween, with trick-or-treating, ghost stories, magic shows, and evening train rides featuring costumed actors; the Metro Howl-O-Ween Bassett Bash, an annual costume event for Basset Hounds running since 1997; Art in the Park, a judged outdoor art event with cash prizes followed by a concert; Winter Wonderland from November through January, with an outdoor ice rink, a beer garden, a Santa's North Pole Workshop, and food and drink stands; Holiday with the Animals in December, where guests can visit Santa and watch the animals open presents; and an annual Easter Egg Hunt followed by storytelling and crafts.