75 Gashes Creek Road
Asheville , NC , 28805

Phone: (828) 259-8080

Website

The Western North Carolina Nature Center is a 42 acre zoological park operated by the City of Asheville's (NC) Parks and Recreation department. Until 1973, it was known as the Asheville City Zoo and was then renamed the Children's Zoo and Nature Center. It received its current name in 1974 when formed as a non-profit charity to develop the zoo which ultimately opened in 1976 ands its collection features animals native to the southern Appalachian Mountains. In 2013 it opened the first phase of a new plan with a new red wolf exhibit and Arachnid Adventure playground. A new front entrance complex, prehistoric Appalachian exhibit (featuring animals found in the region 15,000 years ago such as Red Panda, Tapir and Rhinoceros) and Appalachian Journey exhibit are also being planned.

The machine is next to the ticketing office upstairs -- you could use it without buying an admissions ticket. Does not line up from one image to the next, so it can be time consuming to use

All have 'The Western North Carolina Nature Center, www.wildwnc.org' on them. Designs are;
1) Bear,
2) River Otter,
3) Howling Wolf,
4) Mountain Lion.

04/19/22: Machine is in the courtyard by the chickens. It's after you pay but the guy let me go in since all I wanted was the pennies.
Each penny matched up correctly but I had to start with the handle down and roll fast to get it to press correctly. JLT