Social media doesn't have exclusive rights to adorable baby animals.
Turns out many species with cute babies are on view right in Atlanta, and that doesn't just include the adorable baby panda twins that have melted hearts all over Atlanta.
Some can be cuddled, others offer a photo op and a few are even adoptable.
Kids and meme-loving animal lovers can spot real live adorable animal offspring at these five places. (Get ready to ooh and aww.)
Cat shelter 2650 Pleasantdale Road, Atlanta. 770-613-0009
Dog shelter 1520 Union Hill Road, Alpharetta. 770-613-0009 To volunteer, email volunteer@furkids.org.
Kids and parents can see and even help tend to cute little kittens and the occasional puppy at Furkids, a non-profit that operates the largest cage-free, no-kill shelter in the Southeast for rescued cats and a no-kill division for dogs.The bright-colored cat rooms provide volunteer opportunities open to all ages (with a parent or guardian present), like feeding or watering the cats.
You can also help socialize the kitties by petting and playing with them, which helps them be ready when they find their forever homes. Dog shelter caretakers can be ages 12-15 with a guardian. Forty or so dogs, some of them youngsters, need love, affection, walks and baths.
Cricket's Mobile Petting Zoo
Prices start at $270 for one hour with 20-plus furry and friendly animals, $85 per additional hour
Pine Mountain Road NW, Kennesaw. 770-789-1422
Cricket's brings the petting zoo to you, departing Kennesaw for Alpharetta, Atlanta, Dunwoody and many other metro Atlanta areas. Licensed by the USDA and with the Georgia Department of Agriculture and insured to the tune of $1 million, Cricket's allows you to relax while the kids love on furry animals. Ensemble members vary, but always include babies of some sort, whether lambs, kids, chicks, ducklings, piglets or rabbits.
Scottsdale Farms Garden Center and Nursery
15639 Birmingham Hwy, Alpharetta. 770-777-5875
After you've strolled through the barn, supped at the farm-to-table cafe or checked out the nursery, don't forget to see if you can spot some critters. Scottsdale Farms has a pasture full of goats and chickens near its children's play area. The kids are born in the spring but even the adolescents are darn cute and the parents are fun and frisky.
10 a.m.-7 p.m. weekends Oct. 1-Oct. 30, 3:30 p.m.-7 p.m. weekdays Oct. 17-28 (weekday mornings groups by reservation only)
Parking on weekends $3
786 Arnold Mill Rd, Woodstock. 770-926-0561
Baby farm animals are an adorable part of Berry Patch Farm's pumpkin patch experience, along with a playground.
Cumming Country Fair and Festival
4 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 4 p.m.-midnight Friday; 10 a.m.-midnight Saturday; 12:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6-16
Ages 11 and up $7; 10 and under free
The Cumming Fairgrounds, 235 Castleberry Rd, Cumming
Lots of baby animals await at the fair, a pleasant drive through small towns that are still considered metro Atlanta. The Petting Zoo involves a few young four-legged animals and a duck pond with ducklings. If the obvious link isn't too much for you or the kids, the fair also boasts the Tyson chicken house as part of the Heritage Village. There kids can see equipment used to raise chickens around the turn of the 20th century and hold a baby chick. Through Nov. 12 you can stop Warbington Farms in Cumming, too, for a pumpkin patch, corn maze and a few more farm animals.
