New Forest Wildlife Park — Attraction in New Forest

An absolutely stunning and amazing Wildlife Park in the heart of the New Forest. The Park is set in a stunningly picturesque and idyllic setting and probably one of the most picturesque Wildlife Parks in the South of England with an array of both domestic and exotic animals to boot. The range of animals at the park include Fallow Deer, Sika Deer, European Pine Marten, European Polecat, Giant Otter, Great Grey Owl, Little Owl, Northern Lynx, Red Deer, Red Fox, Snowy Owl, Eurasian Otter, Asian Short Clawed Otter, Wild Boar, European Bison, Wolverine, European Badger, Barn Owl and Harvest Mouse. All of these animals are looked after in very spacious, pristine and immaculate enclosures showing their welfare is very well much catered for and that they are very well looked after. The pick of the animals has to be the Giant Otters and the Asian Short Clawed Otters due to their angelic and friendly appeal but also their impressive size, which you can admire up close particularly with the Giant Otter. Some of the animals you can right up close are The Deer and the Wallabies with the Deer Encounter and Wallaby Walkthrough and in particular with the Deer Encounter you can very close to the Fallow and Sika Deer who do not seem bothered by your presence and very tame and it is definitely one of the best Wildlife Parks in the UK where you can get very close to the Deer and in the Wallaby Walkthrough you can catch a great glimpse of the Wallabies. There are talks throughout running at selected times for some of the animals where you can learn further impressive and fascinating facts about the animals and their conservation in the wild and during these talks you can see these animals up close and admire their size and power especially with the Wolverine, which is awesome and impressive up close and shows great power and agility. There are information displays at each of the animals enclosures detailing informative details about their habitats, diets and distribution throughout the world, which is very fascinating and interesting. The setting of the Park is very picturesque and idyllic with the Pine Trees and Wild Rhodenderons on show adding to amd bringing out the typical delightful New Forest scenery and adding to the charm and delight of the place. There is a cafe selling a nice range of food and drink at reasonable prices and there is a lovely gift shop selling a wonderful range of souvenirs at reasonable prices. Overall this is a thoroughly delightful, magnificent and amazing place to visit making for a lovely relaxing and enjoyable day out. Definitely well worth a visit whilst in...

I'll start by saying that the place is hugely overpriced. It's a relatively small space so don't expect to spend a day there. Also the actual animal enclosures are disappointingly small. In particular the owls who are all housed in bare minimum sized aviaries, and the otters and pine marten who are in less than adequate enclosures. The final, most devastating, thing we learnt was that the deer, who will trust you enough to let you stroke them, are bred to be killed (and supplied to a butcher). When we questioned why they didn't sterilise instead to keep numbers down (if that is the problem) we were told its unsafe to do so - but I think we all know that is not true, and its also probably less risk of death than a gun to the head, but hey - what do I know? Good money comes from the butcher which, I think, is a good indicator of priorities. It really is about time we stopped using animals for entertainment purposes and indoctrinating people into believing that it is ethically and morally acceptable to breed, befriend and then kill innocent creatures.

Overall, disappointing and upsetting.

Edit to add I see you have replied to me with some complete untruths. Firstly, I am so angry you have tried to accuse us of ranting and being abusive. The conversation went as follows:

Keeper: so the deer are bred to cull and provided to a local butcher

Husband: Hi, sorry. Can I just stop you there. The deer are bred to cull? Why can't you just sterilise them if numbers are getting too high?

Keeper: it's actually unsafe to spay deer, it can't be done.

Husband: I'm sorry. But I don't agree at all with providing local butchers with them

Us: *walked away

That was the end of the interaction. Please can you explain how that is classed as abusive? It was my daughter's birthday so I can assure you that it was all kept very low key because I didn't want them to be made aware of the what had just been told to us.

Why would you lie? And additionally, why would you also say that they are not culled for meat when those are the exact words that were told by your Keeper. We weren't the only ones at the talk so it's hard to say something wasn't said when there were witnesses there to vouch for what we are saying.

This is a really underhand and dishonest way to handle a negative review. Sadly it just shows that you simply cannot be trusted.

Also - an afterthought which just came to me - if my husband was shouting and abusive as you claim he was, what would he have been shouting and abusive about if that conversation didn't take place as you...

We had our five year old’s birthday party here, and it was perfect from start to finish. From the very first contact, everything was simple to arrange and the staff were wonderful helpful, kind, and genuinely caring.

The two team members who looked after the children on the day were amazing!!—fun, knowledgeable, and brilliant with everyone. Truly lovely humans! They were patient, answered endless questions, and created such a relaxed and joyful atmosphere. Our son got to feed the otters, which completely made his day the otter keeper was also so warm and encouraging with him.

We saw so many animals and birds, and were able to get really close to many of them. The park itself is stunning beautifully natural and spacious, with lots of green areas and never feeling crowded. The play parks scattered around the site are fantastic; the kids absolutely adored them and we could have spent hours just playing there.

The party room was set up beautifully, all done by the staff. The food was lovely great quality party food with healthy options alongside the classic favourites, which we really appreciated! Our son was made to feel so special throughout the day, and he absolutely loved every moment.

It was relaxed, fun, and wonderfully run exactly what you hope for (and need!) with a children’s birthday party. It was also well worth the money for such a memorable, seamless, and joyful experience and everything done for you! The party bags were also utterly brilliant! And well thought out. A huge thank you to the two wonderful staff members who hosted the day you were utterly fabulous!!!

We can’t recommend the New Forest Wildlife Centre and the birthday party there highly enough.lots of the other parents were talking about buying memberships and thought it was brilliant. (No photos shared here as we’re keeping the children private, but it was a...