I lived in Pitsburgh until I was 18 and now return once or twice a year to visit family. I took my children to the zoo during my last visit (July 2007) and had a good time. However, I feel compelled to comment on several things that I found detracted from our visit. First of all, the monkey house smelled worse than anything I have ever smelled in my entire life. It was like being inside a dirty diaper. They need to clean it for the sake of the animals. Good thing it is a non-smoking zoo because if someone lit a match in there the place would probably explode due to the foul gases. The penguin exhibit and elephant house weren't much better. I've been to zoos in the Deep South (SC and FL) in the middle of summer with temps of 100+ and never encountered such a putrid smell. Also, parts of the zoo came off as being too preachy- telling you that the weeds you were looking at weren't weeds but Mother Nature. Maybe I'll try this same tactic when the city writes me a ticket for not maintaining my yard properly. Another example- the arctic village where children are bashed over the head with ""messages"" about how bad people are at every turn. I felt like I was in an Afterschool Special and it was all my fault. What a downer. I just want my kids to see the animals. While the underwater tunnel was interesting, the polar bears were comatose. It made me wonder how much time (if any) they actually spend in the water.
Pros: Good children's zoo- lots to do
Cons: The smell was worse than any other zoo I have visited
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