Fate Of Johnson Park Petting Zoo In Piscataway Still Undecided

PISCATAWAY, NJ — Middlesex County may not be closing a small, but popular, Piscataway petting zoo after all.

In mid-October, the county made the surprise announcement it would be permanently closing Johnson Park Animal Haven after it was flooded by Tropical Storm Ida on Sept. 2. After Ida hit, photos of goats, horses and sheep standing knee-deep in murky brown flood water went viral on Facebook.

The zoo is located inside Johnson Park, a very low-lying area of Piscataway, and the entire park was badly flooded when the Raritan River rose 24 feet in one day, cresting at 42 feet. (Piscataway suffered some of the worst flooding in the state in Ida.)

But now Middlesex County says the fate of the petting zoo will not be decided until an assessment is completed on the best way to relocate the animals.

"We are concerned about climate change all over, not just at Animal Haven and it remains in our interest to close Animal Haven," said Middlesex County Commissioner Director Ronald Rios Thursday night at the county's public meeting. "The county intends to solicit a professional to do an assessment and a review of all the infrastructure that we have in Middlesex County ... to see all our parks and what we can do with those animals to make sure they are safe and in a good place."

Animal activists have been asking the county to shut down the zoo. But Director Rios said other members of the public have been begging the county to keep the longtime petting zoo open.

Middlesex County owns the park, but the petting zoo is run by an animal rescue group that takes injured farm animals and rehabilitates them. For decades, it has been open daily to the public to see and pet the animals.

"We received comments contrary to closing the park, because there were people advocating that they want to have animals still in Johnson Park," said Rios.

He even floated the idea that the animals could stay within the Middlesex County Parks System, and added that the county wants to keep some petting zoos open in the parks system "for people to enjoy."

Middlesex County runs similar petting zoos in Monroe Township (Thompson Park) and in Woodbridge (Merrill Park).

No animals died during the Ida-flooding at Johnson Park, said a Middlesex County spokeswoman, despite social media rumors to the contrary, but one pig did drown in Ida floodwaters at nearby Merrill Park Animal Haven in Iselin.

That happened when the park experienced sudden flash flooding from the south branch of the Rahway River.

Park staff and two people passing by noticed the flood waters were rising rapidly and had to rush in and free the animals trapped in their pens.

"Unfortunately, upon entering the pig enclosure, it was discovered that one pig had passed away," said the county spokeswoman. "All other animals were successfully rescued."

"For generations, Middlesex County families have visited the animals at the Johnson Park Animal Haven; the park has not only brought joy to those families on their visits but provided a much-needed home for animals that would otherwise be euthanized or be unable to survive in the wild," said the County Commissioners in October.

First Patch report: Middlesex County Closes Petting Zoo After It Was Hit By Ida Flooding (Oct. 18)

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The Johnson Park Animal Haven in Piscataway was hit pretty hard by flooding during Ida, and not for the first time. And while officials are still "picking up the pieces," no decision has been made about what to do going forward.
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— MyCentralJersey (@MyCentralJersey) October 13, 2021