Yaguar Zoo Xoo

Great experience! Please SUPPORT this sanctuary. It is self funded, and it cost very little to go on the tour. We will go again next year and plan on sending a few bus loads there. People who live there are not able to pay for the tour.

It's not a super fancy place or zoo, if that's what you expect. However, the variety of feline species, and the python were enough to amaze me. These animals are being taken care of, and some are being "rehabilitated" and "re-adapted" to their natural habitats. I highly recommend you visit this place.

Not a zoo but definitely a sanctuary for rescued animals. Lots of space for them, well cared for ad an excellent tour guide.

It was very enlightening day. They have black jaguars, jaguars, puma, tigers and lions. This is a private reserve that cares for the animals, sometimes for the remainder of their life. The tour guide is incredibly knowledgable. Will need a passing understanding of Spanish.

This is an amazing place and the people there are doing a great job trying to preserve the wildlife, specially the jaguars.
You can watch the animals very close, like monkeys, bears, a crocodile and a Burmese python. Then you go to the felines, lions, tigers, pumas, and jaguars. It's fantastic.
The place is an NGO so they depend on the entrance fees and donations, so be sure to help them out.

Overall rating: 10/10 🎉
Personal experience: I’m a Backpacker that travel across America, in the last month I travel through Mexico. If there is a place that I won’t miss is the Jaguar Zoo Xoo.
You see a variety of big cats 😅and they are so adorable.

— Strong Side —
* Professional guides (a volunteer biologist).
* There is an option for English tour 👊🏻
* The cages are close (but there is a safety space) so you can see from relly close the animals.

— Weak Spot —
* If you don’t come by car there is a problem of getting back to Oaxaca city (took for us 45 min to find a ride back to the city).

Absolutely recommend visiting this place! It’s an incredibly noble organization preserving wildlife. They offer great explanations of all the animals and their stories and situations and aim to release some back into the wild once ready. The people working here show how much they care about the animals and it makes for a great, educational experience

Amazing! You have to go check this out and support such an incredible cause!

Amazing place, beautiful and well trained animals. This place is focus on jaguars, there are many of them and you can interact with them.

Wonderful place and definitely worth a visit - our guide was super knowledgeable and translated everything for us since we were the only ones who did not speak Spanish on the tour. They really do a great job here to teach people about these endangered species and provide a good environment for the animals.

Amazing place. I've never seen big cats as close - jaguars, lions, cougars, tigers... we saw them all almost in an arm's reach. They do great conservation work here and are financed solely through entrance fees and donations. The tour was also super informative and the biologist guide very nice. Big recommendation to go visit if you're remotely interested in animals.

Such a great place, call ahead to book the biologist tour so they're ready for you.. We didn't know that so we ended up waiting for somebody to be free for about 20 minutes but it was worth it. Very informative and I've never seen large cats close up and active like that before.

This was an amazing experience. The sanctuary is doing so much good for the animals. It was nice hearing about their rescue stories and how the sanctuary is helping animals heal and live good lives. We were easily able to take a taxi from Oaxaca and had no issue finding one back to the city.

This is the only Jaguar sanctuary in Mexico. It mostly rescues jaguars that have been kept as pets in unacceptable and harsh conditions, but it also takes other abused animals too. It receives no government funding, but it's a very well run site with lots of space for the recovering animals. It was a pleasure to be shown around by our guide who was very informative and clearly very passionate about the animals.

Great place for both adults and kids. It’s not a zoo, it’s a sanctuary where they take care of rescued animals. They have both Jaguars, lions, pumas, a huge snake and much more, they tell the story of each animal and how they’ve been rescued from the circus, homes (!!) etc, very sad but also great that the animals ended up here instead!! Open on weekends, with guided tours. Highly recommend to go here and support the work they do for the animals, I really enjoyed it.

A place to remind us about our responsibility with wildlife. If you're in Oaxaca, you should surely visit this place to know more about the care of wild animals.
Also, they make shure to answer all your questions. Don't forget to leave something to support this organization.

Open to public Fri-Sun. Knowledgeable guides who are biologists give you a tour explaining all about the animals which are mostly native to Mexico. Tour lasts about 1 1/2 hour, costs $100 pesos (children under a certain age cost less). You learn about their conservation efforts. If you go on a weekday you get an abreviated tour

Really neat place, fantastic care of animals, and amazing rehabilitation work. Tours start on the hour. There is shade. Got to pet the big snake!

Checked out the Yaguar Zoo Xoo just before Mitla, toady. It's more of a reserve than a zoo and they treat the animals really well. But nobody knows they are out there and they are struggling financially. The guide we had was extremely knowledgeable and passionate. And her English was good too. Please check it out! Their focus is on rehabilitation but the animals you can see can not be returned to the wild for various reasons.

We really enjoyed the Jaguar Zoo. The tour is 100 pesos per adult, 70 per child. It is conducted in Spanish - which I speak badly but enough to hear a few key facts. The main concept seems around preservation of Jaguars. Doesn’t quite explain the presence of tigers, bears and lions but we very much enjoyed seeing them. I have never been so close to such impressive animals. Not wanting to get too much into the ethics of zoos, the enclosures are pretty large and animals seem very well looked after. The staff are helpful and passionate. This is not a large zoo but it is an extremely diverting hour. Very pleased to see a beautiful black panther and to stroke an enormous python!

The zoo backs onto a high security prison. Ironically, the neighbouring tigers would find escape much easier. Any escaping prisoner will hope his tunnel does not emerge in the crocodile enclosure. The crocodiles, I am sure, would be delighted to welcome them.

So a strong recommendation from me.