Soco Gardens Zoo Sorry but this attraction closed down October 30, 2005!
	Located in beautiful Maggie Valley, NC, Soco Gardens Zoo, is a real treat for young and old alike. Professional guides lead you through this unique zoo and introduce you to all their animal friends. Meet Tripod the three legged alligator, Chen-Tenn and Gloriana, the snow leopards, and Magic the black panther plus many others. Watch as your guide interacts with the monkeys, bears, and lemurs, then introduces them to you so that you too can call them by name. Watch the nonpoisonous snake show, in which you can choose to participate, or hold your breath as your guide walks through the poisonous snake pit where rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths abound. What better way to learn the differences in poisonous and nonpoisonous snakes than to view them at close range behind a safety wall.
3578 Soco Rd.  Maggie Valley,  NC 28751
For More Information Call: (828)926-1746	OrVisit their webpage http://www.socogardenszoo.com/

Soco Gardens Zoo to close ‘class’ menagerie

by CHUCK WATERS

http://www.themountaineer.com/archives/2005/09/19/business_socogardenszootoclos.html

Owners hope to keep botanical gardens, bird exhibit and gift shop open

When Soco Gardens Zoo first opened in 1954, it was predominantly a reptile house. But original owners Bo and Clara Miller had similar facilities throughout the country and gradually expanded the facility into a small zoo, home to snakes, reptiles, birds and exotic animals.

The Millers’ son, Jim, and his wife, Beverly, have sustained the zoo over the years and added to the collection, which currently includes a rare white Bengal tiger, a snow leopard, bears, alligators, llamas and an assortment of monkeys, in addition to the rattlesnakes, vipers and pythons. During a good six-month season, the zoo would welcome about 40,000 visitors annually. But times — and economics — have changed, and the Millers have reluctantly decided to close the zoo effective Sunday, Oct. 30. “Attendance has dwindled,” Beverly Miller said Wednesday as her husband Jim, 61, conducted a tour of the grounds. “The economy factored into it, and when Ghost Town closed [in 2003], that hurt, too. And lately gas prices are a concern as well.”

Besides the tour group, there were just a handful of visitors on this late summer day. But several of the couples greet Beverly like an old friend, and indeed many are regular visitors to the zoo, home to more than 40 critters. They’re sorry to hear it will close and inquire about the fate of the animals.

“Rest assured, they will all have good homes. We have already found homes for the reptiles and snakes and alligators,” Beverly said. Soco Gardens Zoo is nestled like a jungle enclave along the noise and bustle of Soco Road in Maggie Valley. Miller said increased traffic noise can be upsetting to the animals, and Maggie Valley isn’t the prime family vacation destination it once was — demographics have shifted.

But the visitors who do come find a lot to like about the zoo, which offers plenty of room for the animals to romp and play. And Jim and the other tour guides are more than happy to explain where the animals come from, how they were acquired, and how well they get along with humans. Folks can insert coins in a gumball-like machine and receive food pellets to feed the llamas, but a cautionary sign warns: “Llamas can spit.”

The Millers and their staff (which can vary from three to five, depending on the time of year) pride themselves on keeping the zoo spotless, and the botanical gardens lend a lushness to the landscape.

“People love the personal attention they get from the tour guides, the cleanliness and how we care for the animals,” Beverly said. “Of course, they all have their favorites — some love the snakes, some like the bears and some like the monkeys or the cats. But they are all our babies.”

Miller said they hope to be able to keep the botanical gardens, the parrots and the gift shop open, but that remains to be seen. “If families were still coming to Maggie Valley, and if business was better, and if we were 10 years younger, we might try to sell it. But age catches up with you,” she sighed.