Audubon Zoo, How Could You?

Audubon Zoo, How Could You?

My husband and I both grew up in the NOLA area, and despite now living in Baton Rouge, we still see the Audubon Zoo as “our zoo.” I have so many fond memories of trips to the zoo. Random things, like seeing the Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons “live,” and having field trips and picnics. I remember when the Aquarium in NOLA opened. High school brought the Taylor-Audubon Scholar award that gave us free access to the Zoo and Aquarium.

Fewer things, more experiences

Since having our own kids, we’ve frequently had family members gift us an annual membership as our Christmas gift. It was a great way to reduce the number of things in our lives. Experience gifts are always a good way to get to have more quality time together as a family. Over the last year we have visited the Audubon Zoo and Aquarium a number of times. In fact, my son was so disappointed about missing the red river hogs the last two times we went, that he wrote himself a reminder post-it to be sure we didn’t miss them again … he’s 6. We did see the red river hogs during our most recent visit, thankfully, because the Audubon Institute has just pulled a fast one on practically everyone and it may be a while before we go back for a visit. 

Wow, Really?

We were gifted our annual membership last year, as a family Christmas gift. It was set to expire at the end of October 2025, so we made a trip to “the zoo” just a few weeks ago to get one more visit out of our membership. My husband and I discussed renewing it ourselves once it was expired, but decided to wait until Black Friday; Audubon usually offers a discount. 

This year was no different; there was a discount offered. It was 15% off the membership. Okay, so not the 20% off as offered in the past, but times are tough. My husband went to the website to check out the discount and had sticker shock. I thought, maybe he was looking at the wrong pass size. We usually got the “family basic” pass. It was $200 for a family of 4, but on Black Friday, the price was $425! I didn’t quite believe it myself, so I went to the website to make sure. Sure enough, $425 for an annual membership. A quick search showed me we weren’t the only ones who were shocked, angry, and disappointed. 

The Audubon Zoo’s response to blindsiding most of their consumer base was, well, not great. There was no warning. There was no remorse; there was, originally, no comment. There are, however, a lot of angry and disappointed families who have essentially been priced out of an Audubon membership. Audubon did eventually address the elephant in the room (sorry, I couldn’t help it) and responded to the criticism. It was too little too late. Did they think we wouldn’t notice or care? Whatever they thought, they were wrong. You can view it here. 

Staying Local

After Audubon’s audacity, we researched the prices for the BREC Baton Rouge Zoo. A membership for a family of four is $95, in fact, you can purchase their highest membership tier for less than that Audubon family of 4 price. AND, the Baton Rouge Zoo is a member of the Association of Zoos & Aquarium’s AZA Reciprocal Admissions Program; meaning you can get entry to other zoos around the country, for free/discounted as part of your membership with our local zoo. Audubon does not participate in the reciprocity program. So, while we are disappointed in Audubon and it may be a while before we visit again, we know we have a local option that also grants us access to other zoos across the country. We’re all about experiences; hopefully the Audubon Zoo will learn from this experience and not attempt to dupe their loyal members again. Sure 15% off is nice, but not when the price has increased over 100%. Maybe they should look inward, literally, at the wall just before you exit the Aquarium which features this quote.