Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary — Attraction in Bahía Ballena

I appreciate the tireless work of true rescuers and I love the work that folks do to address the damage and harm that humans inflict on animals just trying to love their lives. This facility is seemingly no exception: the only animals being held in captivity are unreleasable and have demonstrated this by coming back after repeated controlled release attempts, or have arrived already habituated to humans from illegal pet trade. Although this outcome is troubling and imperfect and may inadvertently reinforce speciesism and the plight of animals, it doesn't seem like it can be avoided.

Our tour was led by the clearly caring and knowledgeable Florian, who had some great very dry humour and did a great job. The animals knew him and he didn't interact with them in disrespectful ways.

At the end, I asked him offhand and alone why the hotel who helps book the tours offers to serve a meat dinner with a tour, did he think that was odd? In BC, rescue orgs have taken deserved critique for using the funds from murdered animals (meat) to help rescue other animals that we don't eat. He told me dryly that it was because so many animals die in the rescue that they needed something to serve to folks coming through. I guess to him this was sort of funny but I thought it was a mean joke in that context and it was said to dodge my question maybe? I guess I felt the answer was a bit surly and not respectful to animals there. Joking about eating animals may be funny to some, but in this case I didn't get why he would answer that to a honest question about an issue that does come up all over. I am involved in rescue and other animal rights work, have worked in captivity and handling as someone trying to do better (but quit and became an activist because these practices are exploitative). This wasn't meant to be judgemental or not serious a question, and I was not implying that Florian was responsible for the choice, as he further went on to imply. I had to say " I obviously know you aren't planning the menu at the restaurant, I was just asking if the rescue was aware, and what they thought of animals bodies being offered for sale on a tour of rescued animals." I was not escalated but I decided on vacation to just leave it there and respect the work he does and everyone else does there. Florian mentioned that most of the volunteers there are vegan and then our friend spoke with him at length and he agreed to mention our basic concern to other folks at the centre, which is all I was wondering- did they know and do they care?

Edit: thanks for the response. I get that it was a joke and I know Florian and you all are great, I just have never had meat in my life and am a 20 plus year activist so it is always hard to hear a joke to a serious question. That said, I am a constant joker under lots of different contexts so I can understand why he wanted to keep it light. It's a serious subject though. I'll send along another donation...

I just finished my tour at the sanctuary and it was a very educational and enlightening experience. While it is heartbreaking to hear the stories of the harm that has been done by humans to these animals, I am so glad to know that a facility like this exists. They provide both veterinary care and rehabilitation for injured animals to be released into the wild and also long-term housing facilities for animals that that cannot be released. I would like to take a moment to address some of the reviews falsely accused this facility of being a zoo type operation that generates profit, this could not be further from the truth. First of all, this is a nonprofit organization that operates based on volunteers and acceps interns from all over the world to come and take care of the animals. Those people who are saying this is a zoo type operation, clearly did not attend the tour or did not pay attention at all. The animals that the public is able to view during the tour are the animals that cannot be released into the wild due to their inability to survive because of the harm and injuries that they have sustained during human captivity. For example, one of the spider monkeys had all of its teeth removed by its previous human who kept him for entertainment purposes. One of the parrots cannot fly and has never been able to fly due to the fact that it never developed the muscles for flying because it was kept in a cage so small. The tour does not include viewing of the animals that are being rehabilitated and prepared for release, for obvious reasons. These animals must be shielded from human contact and retain their ability to be afraid and avoid humans for their own safety. Anybody with a background and wildlife care and animal rehabilitation, or just with plain common sense, would understand that. for those commenting on the size and quality of the enclosures, while it is impossible for humans to mimic a wild environment the staff at this facility do a tremendous job of providing enrichment, natural stimulation, and socialization for the long-term animals. Obviously they can do the best that they can with the human resources and financial resources and donations that they receive. Compared to the previous conditions that these animal had in the hands of their greedy captors and drug dealers, these enclosures are a remarkable improvement to their quality of life. I encourage anybody who is on the fence to please visit this facility, support and donate funds to them so that it can continue to operate for generations to come. Not to mention, they also have an educational program where they bring children from schools and teach them about the consequences of animals and captivity and final outcomes for wildlife that is...

I can afford more than the most expensive Alturas Villas Resort had to offer. Instead I chose to take the more rustic route as I volunteer abroad in many areas and countries with Animals because that is my passion. Being at the Aluras Wilfelife Sanctuary, which has nothing to do with the Resort other than the same owner, there was a very small volunteer hut, which included electricity, shower(cold water only), and food. However the food situation was extremely sloppy and nothing was structured. There is supposed to be a clear cut understand of what to do, learn, what jobs need to be done, who is working from when and where, etc. There was NO STRUCTURE whatsoever, not to mention 2 Spider Monkeys got out and attacked 1 human and 1 dog (which had to be put to sleep). There were Volunteer Supervisors that knew nothing and did less work than anyone at their least. They also ate all of our food and took up the space that we paid for in the jungle, these are the same people that LIVE DOWN THE STREET!!! When going up to the pool in the extremely hot weather, after working with the animals (that I paid to help and give my time), I remember a group of us being very rudely told that we could not be on the extremely large pool deck that overlooked the souther coast of Costa Rica because other people paid for it. Well the other people invited us for conversation regarding certain species of animals they had saw. Why are volunteers treated as 3rd class nobodoes? The lack of respect shown to the volunteers was uncanny.

HOWEVER, The Directior, both past and present are awesome people. Both Mike and Dania were awesome and so were the Doctors and Biologist. Had so many things not gone in a direction that was so dull and negative, basically the complete opposite of what their "ABOUT" description includes.

Its all about the money, even if you just want to better the world and preserve it's...