The Western North Carolina Nature Center

2/16/24: Closed due to storm Helen. Will open in a few months.

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 located just past the ticketing booth window, right inside the gates along the left wall. You may ask the ticketing employee if you may use the machine without paying an entrance fee, but otherwise they may require you to pay to enter.

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.

7/13/24: Machine is still here and designs came out great! The machine location hasn't changed, and ticketing employee allowed me to go past and use the machine, and even had some shiny pennies that she let me exchange some of my dirtier pennies for.