Who's ready for zoos? They're ready for you. Jerome the Giraffe, Charlie Camel, Lucy and Ethel the goats - your pals await you at lovely little area menageries.

One cool, cloudy summer day more than a dozen years ago, my wife-to-be and I were looking for something to do that wouldn't make us feel we had wasted our time coming to the Shore.

"Didn't we pass a sign for a zoo on the way in?" she said, somewhat halfheartedly.

"Yeah, well, OK, let's give it a try," said I, with maybe only a quarter-aorta in it.

So we popped over to the Cape May Zoo, then a small warren of mostly farm animals in the county park in Cape May Court House. Still, as we entered, the sun peeked out. The roosters started to howl wildly and the goats bleated a cheery tune for us. Our smiles really widened when we saw a big goofy face come out of one of the more vertical barns in South Jersey. It was Jerome the Giraffe, the wildest of the wildlife at the Jersey Shore (with perhaps the exception of those who gather at the Jack's in Avalon on summer Saturdays).

Jerome is still around, and the Cape May Zoo has grown substantially over the last decade, adding a mock African savanna, a jungle boardwalk, and a new reptile house. While it doesn't quite rival the Philadelphia Zoo, America's first, the Cape May Zoo is one of four smaller zoos within a 90-minute drive of the city, each with its own attributes and attractions. All are low-cost or free, and not so overwhelming for younger children. None are petting zoos, but some do allow kids to touch friendly animals (just remember to have them wash their hands afterward). With spring settling in, it may be just the time for a visit.

Cape May Zoo

There are now more than 180 species of animals and birds at the Cape May Zoo, the most expansive of the smaller zoos in the area. The zoo itself is on 80 acres in a wooded section of Cape May Court House off U.S. Route 9, while the African Savanna is a mostly treeless plain of 57 acres. That is where Jerome and fellow giraffes, zebras and ostriches wander while visitors look on from a boardwalk. (Other named residents include Charlie Camel, Matilda and Dundee Wallaby, and Max and Ellie Lion.)

The Reptile House, rebuilt in 1999 after a fire, has been restocked through donations from other zoos and animal lovers. There's the World of Birds, a large aviary near the zoo's entrance, and a prairie dog warren where you can see the little guys looping in and out of their tunnels.