Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center — Attraction in Fountain Hills

My girlfriend and I took a quick trip to Phoenix and found this highly recommended on Yelp and Google. We are huge animal people (read as lovers of animals, not massive human and animal hybrid organisms) and love zoos but often find ourselves feeling put off by the living conditions they inflict on their animals.

Southwest was so refreshing in that all of the beautiful animals you get to see are permanent residents (the ones being released are kept out of sight of guests so they don't imprint on humans) and are very well cared for. Their enclosures are sprawling and well-maintained, receive proper diets, and are cared for by knowledgeable staff that volunteer their time out of love for animals.

The animals they show during the tour include a dozen Mexican grey wolves, several hawks and owls, several mountain lions, four bears, a leopard-jaguar hybrid, Kit foxes, Designer foxes, porcupines, deer, coyotes, Cotamundi, giant tortoise, and several other species of foxes whose names I can’t remember.

The tour lasts just around two hours and is very informative and a lot of fun. Our guide, Tara, was an absolute treasure. She very obviously had a great relationship with all the animals, was very personable, and paced everything very well. She said she was on her 6th year of volunteering at Southwest after a visit with her daughter turned her into a permanent fixture at the conservation center. Between facts about the animals and her jokes, my girlfriend and I were having just a wonderful time.

Complimentary water is offered with several drinking fountains throughout the area. There is a gift shop at the front of the property with lots of cool keepsakes.

Most importantly, Southwest is a privately-funded catch-and release center that rehabilitated and released 91% of their animals in 2017. Tour ticket sales and donations keep this wonderful place going, and I would definitely...

We found the wildlife center online after searching for somewhere that had javelinas, one of our favorite desert animals. The drive out to it was gorgeous!! We ordered our tickets in advanced online, we understand there was high waitlist for that day. We went on a beautiful Saturday morning at 10am. As we arrived, Marilyn greeted us and showed us around, then we also met Robin who was explaining the ins/ outs before the tour. We toured with Marilyn who was super personable, extremely knowledgeable and kind. You could tell by her spirited explanations that she knew all these animals well-not only by name, but their characteristics and individual stories. She was an excellent tour guide and we are thankful for her hospitality and knowledge, we really enjoyed hearing about the habitat and how they rehabilitate the particular animals. We enjoyed seeing the destructive tortoise Goliath, he was hilarious. After the tour was finished, she specifically asked just us two if we wanted to go back to see if "Lucky" (the specific javelina we read about on the site) was awake and roaming his habitat. He was! We got a few videos and pics and it made our day. We highly recommend this facility, and making donations for them to continue helping wildlife and making this world a better place one animal...

We highly recommend this wildlife sanctuary! For $35 pp, you get a 2 hour guided tour. We did a different kind of tour a few days later at another attraction. The other tour was shorter, less interesting, and more expensive.

The SWWCC tour is really dynamic and winds along shady paths (important in the desert!) through a beautifully landscaped property. Our guide Chad was very knowledgeable and his love for the animals really shone through. We had great luck with the animals coming out to say hello! They have mountain lions, bears, multiple species of foxes, wolves, bobcats, and so much more.

One of the things we loved was that SWWCC rehabilitates 88% of the animals they take in to release back into the wild. The only animals that live permanently on-site are those that can't survive in the wild on their own because of injuries or having become too dependent on humans before arriving at SWWCC, i.e. someone tried to keep them as a pet. So, when you pay your tour fee, you're helping to support this important work of saving animals.

On a side note, they are always looking for volunteers. If I lived locally, I'd volunteer in a heartbeat!

Definitely check this place out if you get a chance and spread the word. It far exceeded our...