A fantastic animal sanctuary (NOT A ZOO) caring for a wide variety of orphaned and mistreated animals many of whom were someone's illegal pet. Their collection includes mountain lions and bears, wolves, coyotes, Bobcats, foxes, leopard and more, that for a variety of reasons can never be re-released into the wild. We greatly enjoyed our visit on a warm February afternoon led by a very engaging and knowledgable volunteer named Sunny ("like the weather") and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to anyone who cares about animals.
NOTE: you MUST make a reservation ahead ($25 donation per person) via their website. The funds are used to feed and provide veterinary services for the animals.
Things to know:
- tour takes about 2 hours
- parking isn't really marked but is just at the end of the gravel road
- group sizes are limited so reserve in advance (there were 25 in our group)
- not a great place for really little kids (it's NOT A ZOO) - as they likely won't be interested in all of the stories about how the animals came to be in their care
- you are escorted around by a volunteer and need to all stick together
- you will hear some really sad stories about how some of the animals came to reside here
- you will get to see a lot of animals up close - our Gide gad a bucket of "treats" (raw chicken, salmon, carrots, peanut butter, grapes) that were given to the animals that drew them in right up to the fence - you will be just a couple of feet away from them
- bring water or buy a bottle from them for $1
- it's a little unclear where to go for the tour(no signs) just walk past the brown building and meet under the pavilion
DON't MISS THIS!