Accessibility

Perth Zoo is rich with the sights, sounds and smells of nature set in a tranquil, fully enclosed environment. It makes a perfect outing for visitors with physical, cognitive, intellectual or psychiatric disability and their carers.

Please click on any of the links below to jump to that section:

• Accessible parking
• Carers/companions free
• Mobility scooter/wheelchair hire
• Accessibility map
• Talking Zoo
• Variety children’s playground
• Wheelchair-friendly drinking fountains
• Soundscapes and audio devices
• Hands-on activities
• Seeing-eye/medical aid dogs

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Accessible Parking

The Zoo offers 13 ACROD parking bays within 100m of the entrance. ACROD stickers will need to be clearly displayed and current. Disability parking is free in the free car parks but incurs fees in the paid carparks (look for the ticket machines/signs).

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Carers/Companions Free

Perth Zoo offers free entry to carers or essential companions of those with disabilities. We recognise and accept the national Companion Card.

Find out how to apply for a Companion Card (opens external site).

Organisations such as schools and respite centres who wish to have carer’s enter free of charge should come with an official letter (on letterhead) identifying the names of the carers and the date of the organisation’s visit. Carers should come with identification that they belong to the appropriate organisation/school/respite centre.

Please note that other organisational cards, such as Carers WA, Carers Australia, and Identity WA are not accepted.

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Mobility Scooter/Wheelchair Hire

Perth Zoo provides sturdy, all-terrain manual wheelchairs at no cost to those who require mobility assistance (returnable $10 deposit and ID required). We also have a limited number of ride-on scooters which are available for hire for $10 per day with a refundable $10 key deposit (ID required). Advance booking is recommended for both (9474 0444).

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Accessibility Map

This free map caters to different types of disabilities and focuses on the facilities Perth Zoo offers, grouping them into five categories: audiovisual, tactile/interactive, olfactory/sensory, tranquil/rest areas and aural/keeper talks. These facilities are shown on the map with a symbol. The map also includes doors, steep hills and ACROD-parking. This map is available here for download or at the Zoo’s Information Centre.

Download the Perth Zoo Accessibility Map (pdf).

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Talking Zoo

Talking Zoo is a FREE online service where visitors can download hours of animal information onto their iPod, MP3 player, mobile phone or PDA.

Thirty-six animal fact files, featuring some of Perth Zoo’s most popular species, are available for you to download before your visit to Perth Zoo.

Download the files at: www.lodingo.com/talking_zoo/perth_zoo (external site)

The audio files can be incorporated into education excursions, for those with print or learning disabilities or just for a regular visit to the Zoo.

Animal audio files include (opens an external site):

Asian Elephant Australian Pelican Blue-and-gold Macaw Blue-winged Kookaburra Chameleon Dragon Cheetah Cotton-top Tamarin Dingo Dugite Emu Estuarine Crocodile Freshwater Crocodile

Frilled Dragon Ghost Bat Hamadryas Baboon Kangaroo Koala Little Penguin Nepalese Red Panda Numbat Olive Python Oriental Small-clawed Otter Perentie Reticulated Python

Ring-tailed Lemur Rothschild’s Giraffe Slender-tailed Meerkat Southern White Rhinoceros Short-beaked Echidna Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat Spotted Hyaena Squirrel Glider Sumatran Orangutan Sumatran Tiger Western Swamp Tortoise White-cheeked Gibbon

Perth Zoo acknowledges the kind support of its partner in the project, Lodingo.com, for making the mp3s available to download at no cost to users.

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Variety Children’s Playground

A playground where children with and without special needs can play together. Utilising local, natural materials to create individually designed artforms that stimulate every sense. Caves, tunnels, ponds and sculptures offer sights, scents and sounds.  Textures are varied, scents are rich, sounds are natural. The playground is shaded and central to the rest of the Zoo. Toilets (including disability accessible facilties) are immediately adjacent. A BBQ and drink fountain are near by and picnic tables immediately overlook the play area(s).

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Wheelchair-friendly Drinking Fountains

All the drinking fountains in Perth Zoo are specially designed to be easily accessed by children or those in a wheelchair/scooter. Featuring beautiful mosaics designed by local school children they’ll provide much more than just a refreshing drink.

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Soundscapes and Audio Devices

Perth Zoo has multiple examples of effective and engaging audio ‘soundscapes’ in its exhibits. These provide realistic audio backdrops to many live animal exhibits. The daily keeper presentations are amplified and provide 10-15 minutes worth of animal information accompanied by visual aspects of the animals.

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Hands-on Activities

Some exhibits feature tactile elements to help interpret the species. Large statues of a gorilla, kangaroo, numbat and Galapagos Tortoise can be fully explored by children with vision impairments. An oversized children’s puzzle at the Echidna exhibit challenges children to learn about echidnas while solving an age-old, tactile spatial puzzle. The Homestead House exhibit includes a range of alternative power interactive devices for children to play with.

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Seeing-eye/Medical Aid Dogs

Perth Zoo is a Class A reserve and a listed quarantine station which is subject to the requirements of the Quarantine Act (1908). This legislation overrules the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) and means that Perth Zoo is one of few places in Western Australia that seeing-eye/medical aid dogs cannot go.

Zoo visitors who bring such a dog to Perth Zoo may be asked to leave their dog in a safe, supervised, indoor location at the entry to the Zoo. Human guides can be arranged in place of a seeing-eye dog on request.