The Great American Petting Zoo is one of the offerings of the Great American Animal Entertainment Company, which is the same company that brought the Great American Pony Ride.

Established in 1983, the Great American Petting Zoo is unlike other zoos in the sense that visitors would find no barriers at all between them and the animals. It?s literally a petting zoo all throughout and visitors may get up close and personal with hand-raised animals such as bantam chickens, Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, African pygmy goats, Bennett wallabies, and Fallow deer. There are also miniature call ducks and Sicilian donkeys as well as a wide assortment of domestic and exotic species of sheep and goats.

Originally owned by philanthropic couple David and Dianne Linderman, who had also founded Kids & Critters Incorporated, the company is now managed and owned by Animal Adventures Unlimited.