Each year, USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards holds an online voting competition. The 2020 nominees for “Best Zoo” were released on Monday, March 16. Voting was temporarily halted due to the pandemic, but is now back on. Voting is open now thru July 6, and voters can vote once daily. The winners will be announced on July 17. See below for our recap of the nominees.
To see our article on “Best Zoo Exhibit” Nominees, click here.
The Favorites
The 2019 and 2018 competitions included the same zoos in the top three spots, just in different orders. Cincinnati Zoo took home first place in 2019, followed by Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo in second, and Saint Louis Zoo in third. In 2018, it was the Saint Louis Zoo on top, followed by Henry Doorly in second, and Cincinnati in third.
We expect these three zoos to be in or near the top three in voting once again. In our rankings, we have Omaha’s Henry Doorly zoo as number one, so they will get our vote (picture at top is of their Desert Dome). We have Saint Louis at number three, behind the Columbus Zoo. Cincinnati comes in at number five for us. Because most voters have not visited all of these zoos, votes tend to pile up for zoos with the largest audience, and Cincinnati is definitely near the top of that list. One interesting note is that Omaha and Cincinnati are two of the most expensive zoos in the country, while Saint Louis is a free zoo.
The Underdog
For us, the Columbus Zoo is a big underdog here. Columbus finished fifth in the 2019 competition, but outside the top ten in 2018. We feel Columbus is the second best zoo we’ve visited, slightly behind Omaha. The top exhibits at the Columbus Zoo are the Australia, Africa, and Polar Frontier Exhibits. The Polar Frontier is a nominee in this year’s Best Exhibit contest. Columbus does have a strong online community, and its inclusion on the National Geographic television show “Secrets of the Zoo” should boost some nationwide recognition. We think Columbus has a chance to sneak into the top three this year, perhaps surpassing 2019 Champion Cincinnati.
Zoos We Haven’t Visited
Of the 20 nominated zoos, we have currently visited seven of them. However, we have visited five of the eight nominees that placed in the top ten last year. Having effectively visited more than half of the top contenders, we feel confident that when the results are final, we will have visited the top zoo. Of the zoo’s we haven’t been to, here are the ones we think are contenders:
- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo – Located in Colorado Springs, this zoo placed sixth last year, and fourth in 2018. This zoo is frequently admired for their scenic habitats and wide variety of animals.
- Audubon Zoo – Located in New Orleans, the Audubon Zoo placed ninth last year, and eighth in 2018. While we believe we have seen ten zoos that probably rival this one, the zoo draws a strong contingent vote from patrons in Louisiana. Popularity should land this zoo in the top ten once again.
- Fort Worth Zoo – This zoo placed fourth last year, and fifth in 2018. We’ve been told this is a spectacular zoo. However, it’s chances of cracking the top three are limited. Because it’s located so closely to the Dallas Zoo, votes are typically split between them. While they’ve both placed in the top ten each of the past two years, there simply doesn’t seem to be enough votes available to push Fort Worth into the top three.
- Zoo Miami – Although kept out of the top ten last year, Zoo Miami placed ninth in 2018. This zoo lands plenty of visitors, but its online footprint doesn’t appear to be as strong as its competitors. If this contest relied solely on a panel of judges, it would most likely be a top five candidate.
Snubs
As with any contest, we have to call out the “snubs”. These are the zoos that weren’t nominated, that we feel should have.
- Minnesota Zoo – We have the Minnesota Zoo from Apple Valley, Minnesota in our top five, ahead of the Cincinnati Zoo. This zoo doesn’t receive the national recognition it deserves. However, our favorite exhibit at this zoo – Russia’s Grizzly Coast – is among the nominees for best zoo exhibit.
- Memphis Zoo – We are planning a trip to Memphis this Summer, and haven’t been there yet. However, this zoo placed eighth in the 2019 competition. It is currently one of just three zoos in the United States to currently have giant pandas on display.
- Riverbanks Zoo – Located in Columbia, South Carolina, this zoo placed seventh in the 2019 competition. We are planning a visit to this zoo as well in the Summer. While they no longer have an elephant exhibit (their lone elephant was moved to Milwaukee), this zoo boasts many wonderful exhibits, as well as a botanical garden.
Thanks for reading. To see how we’ve ranked the zoos we’ve visited, check out our Zoo Rankings page.
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Well that was a pretty big slam to the Zoos you haven’t visited! “These are ones we haven’t visited, BUT we feel like we have visited the top Zoo”!!! REALLY!!! So we don’t have a chance because you already have your minds made up! No a very impartial view for a POLL! You just might be surprised! Oh an we don’t all have Our pictures posted, like others! We just get the fine print!
Hi Brenda – I fear you misunderstood the article and what we tried to convey. This contest is not run by us – it’s run by USA Today. They have a panel that chose the nominees. After naming the top 20 finalists, it’s up to an online vote to determine the winner. We’re offering our opinions based on the zoos we’ve visited – but the contest brings in thousands of votes per year – we are offering opinions, not campaigning for a specific zoo. When we said that we’re confident we have visited the top zoo, that’s based on the fact that over the past two years, the same zoos have finished in the top 3, and we have visited all of them, and as the article points out, we have visited 5 zoos that finished in the top ten last year. We don’t mean any negative against the zoos we haven’t visited, and provided some input on them from what we’ve read. As for no pictures for zoos we haven’t visited, that’s because we only post pictures we have taken ourselves. The link to the poll is at the top of the article and does have pictures for each zoo. I hope this explains our viewpoints a little better.