We wanted to visit an animal rescue، but instead we visited an exotic zoo that includes animals they breed. Almost all of the animals were excited to see people، they looked healthy and got a lot of snacks like bananas and lettuce، and it was fun to pet capybaras، tortoises، a donkey، and feed sloths، lemurs، and a cow. HOWEVER، I learned afterwards through my own research that touching and taking selfies with sloths cause them significant stress and anxiety، and in some cases، can shorten their lifespan- and we all got to get up close and personal and pet their backs for quite a while. This shouldn’t be an exotic petting zoo، because the animals’ health should be their top priority. Each kind of animal was in a chain link cage that، while may exceed minimum requirements، was still much smaller than they should be in compared to the vast space they would be able to roam in the wild. They had no enrichment and their few hiding spots were just dog kennels، buckets and containers with holes cut out of them. No toys or soft bedding، and not even any greenery anymore- just bare bones and some branches for them to climb on. The ostrich was so bored he was playing with dead leaves hanging from a branch. It was very sad to see how tiny the cage was for two prairie dogs، and they weren’t offered any burrowing spots. The little foxes also looked sad and bored. They breed sloths، lemurs، and worst of all- anteaters، which are unnecessary to breed، and notoriously difficult and dangerous to breed، as they can only be kept together for 5-30 minutes at a time or else they’ll attack each other with their sharp claws and bleed. The rest of the animals were rescued and rehomed. I’m thankful they’re willing to take in animals that need help، but it felt more like a collection than a true rescue. They should reconsider the cages and make sure they get enough water (I hardly saw any). Especially when summer hits- it looks like they would all be very miserable there when it’s hot out، so I hope there’s a plan to keep them cool. Don’t get me wrong، we had a fun time and the tour guide، while very monotone، was a book of animal facts so we appreciated his knowledge. But I have to rank this in regards to animal welfare because that matters much more than our entertainment. And although you’ll see only five star reviews on here، we weren’t alone in our opinions on this- a woman and her daughter left the tour early after complaining that this felt like a Tiger King/animal hoarding situation. I’m glad these animals have a safe place to live، but there are improvements that should be made to their quality of life.
