Philip's Animal Garden — Attraction in Alto Vista

This is definitely a mixed bag… on the one hand, we had a great time feeding the hoof stock (four legged) and they were almost all extremely gentle with taking the food from us so that I didn’t worry about my young daughter giving them treats from her open palm. But my impression was that this place cares more about ATVs than animals. In fact, I missed the turn into the parking area because I mistook the place for a storage yard for a fleet of ATVs. There were row upon row of them out front and more in the back of the animal enclosure area. We saw a few workers milling while we ambled about the animal yard but none of them seemed to care that we were there for the animals. Rather they were apparently busy with other needs of the place.

And another downside- there is little to no interpretation of what these animals are or why they were there- no story at all to give you an idea of how they were rescued or why it’s important that they were. Not even any name placards or identification of species with only a couple exceptions!

Granted, their website indicates a desire to upgrade their facilities, but my experience suggested that was secondary goal to keeping the ATV tours going (I’m sure there’s a lot of capital locked up in all those machines…).

But again, I’m torn… I believe many of these animals may actually be better off in a rescue center than whatever alternatives they faced, and it was truly delightful seeing so many up close. But really, I think they could and should do better. The monkeys were thirsty. The birds looked distressed.

And what really clenched it for me that the animals are secondary to whatever other business they have going was that the hand washing station at the exit was utterly neglected. It’s obvious that the animal “garden” is not foremost in their minds when even the basic needs of their guests (paying public) who came there for that experience of feeding animals are excluded from their thinking. I mean, after giving your hand to 50 slobbering goats and pigs you’ll want to clean your fingers with soap. Come...

My daughter and I had a wonderful experience at Philips animal garden, we took a UTV tour with around Aruba tours which began at the garden and instantly fell in love with the animals and the set up! We found out from an employee caring for a 4 week old baby goat that the animals were mainly there as rescues. We were very touched by the care these animals were given and their living spaces. The ability to be so up close and personal to such a large array of animals, some that we had never been face to face with, coupled with the open atmosphere and the overall good disposition of the animals made Philips animal garden a truly unforgettable experience. We visited Aruba for 7 days, we visited the animal garden twice. You are able to go in and feed nearly all the animals, all of whom are very comfortable to properly and mostly gently eat from your hands. There are a few goats who travel the property as if they are dogs and will climb up the front of you with their front hoofs begging for a snack! My daughter was able to hold a baby goat and a baby pig, as well as teach out to hold a monkeys hand. If you are any sort of animal lover at all, you will love Philips Animal Garden! The memories we made there and the one of a kind photos and videos we were able to take will stay with us for years. We also thoroughly enjoyed our UTV tour to Conchi natural pool and highly recommend using Around Aruba Tours for any tours your looking to do, as Philips Animal Garden benefits from all proceeds and the staff are highly qualified and very knowledgeable about the sites, history and current state of Arubin society. The animal garden has a small entrance fee per person that includes one bag of carrots and grains to feed the animals with. They offer additional, larger bags, for...

Visited this "sanctuary" 3 years ago when Philip was only taking donations. Went back this year and was charged, which is obviously not at all a problem. The problem my boyfriend, sister, her friend and myself had and will always have with this place is the care of the animals. While walking near the parrots, one parrot was on the floor laying on its side. Would not get up or respond to me, it took me 10 minutes to find an employee and explained the condition of the bird to him. He told me the bird was probably sleeping... really? On the floor?? When I brought him to the cage he then said "oh actually the bird might be dead"... Where are the employees and how long was the bird on the floor of the cage before I arrived? I was truly so upset to see this at a sanctuary... The bird was clearly very ill, and was barely breathing, the employee took him out of the cage and brought him somewhere, the bird did not even have the strength to move at all. How did this even escalate to this point?

I live part time in Aruba and I use to brag about this place and tell so many people who visit Aruba to support Philip and his cause. This unfortunately has turned in to what looks more like a zoo.

At the back of the "sanctuary" there is a caged wild cat. Who paces the cage back and forth multiple times... with almost little to no light entering the cage at all. This is not the sign of a healthy animal, it's the sign of an animal who is plagued with anxiety... probably from the living conditions. This place breaks my heart and it's so sad to see...