Bear Mountain Butterfly Sanctuary — Attraction in Penn Forest Township

They just reopened a week ago after the pandemic (currently 7/9/21). I went with my wife and my 6 children and we brought a cooler with snacks thinking this was going to be much more than it was. I'll start with pricing and then move through the building from one end to the other.

The pricing is far above what is fair for the experience you receive. 9$ each for my wife and myself. Then 8$ for each of my 6 children. Totaling 66$ just to walk in the door.

The butterflies are gorgeous and the room they are in is wonderful albeit a narrow room with tons of decorations and a very impressive display at the back.

The frogs (which I have to admit was my biggest reason I wanted to come - I love frogs) are in the room just before the butterflies in various tanks - maybe 8 - 10, with 3 or so of these tanks empty with a sign saying something was coming soon. They were very cute and their environments looked good and clean and they were all pretty active which was awesome.

In this same room with the frogs were several foldable tables with large puzzle pieced puzzles on them - ideally for small children. Most likely floor puzzles. Great for a small distraction for your children if they are younger.

Small gift shop on the left directly before the entrance desk and register. We didn't go in there so I can't comment on that at all.

The following room has some gift shop items on racks right before 3 tanks on the left on a half wall or counter. First one had 2 red eared slider turtles in them swimming happily in some water with decorations. The next had one large axolotl. And the third had 2 large axolotl. They all looked great and happy as well. This room also had several foldable tables in the middle with coloring rubs for kids including elk, bear, bee, flower, and other animals. This rooms forward facing wall is packed end to end with more gift shop items. The back wall had info panels and lots of butterfly nets.

The final room was like a classroom and they had 3 rows of chairs, a TV, and things on the walls. The owner of the sanctuary took time to read a book and teach the kids a little more about butterflies.

All the staff were knowledgeable.

All in all it was a great one-time experience where the kids learned about butterflies and other small animals. I just don't think I would spend that much money on something like this knowing what we were getting...

THIS IS NOT A SANCTUARY, IT'S A HOUSE OF HORRORS. As a butterfly enthusiast and raiser, I was very excited to see this sanctuary. I've been to a number in the past and they have been wonderful experiences. This place was truly horrifying. The butterflies were tattered and in terrible condition. They all appeared panicked, desperately trying to leave. All they could do was fly repeatedly into the few windows in this dimly lit room.

Too many people were crammed into the room that the butterflies were at risk of being stepped on. They didn't have enough room to fly around safely and we're constantly crashing into things, and tumbling onto the floor.

I am very concerned about the practices in which the butterflies are raised. Monarchs, a threatened species, need to be raised in a responsible way that does not spread OE, a common parasite that further challenges this species, which is already clinging onto existence. We saw no evidence of proper practices to prevent the spread of OE and saw a number of deformed and dead butterflies, indicating improper practices.

Ironically, you'll see "plant milkweed" bumper stickers plastered on the front door and throughout the interior yet the premises is strangely devoid of any trace of milkweed.

This greenwashing machine is nothing but a moneymill. The sanctuary is a dimly lit, cramped room with ragged butterflies barely clinging onto life. It's clear this tourist trap's primary objective is not to provide a proper living space to butterflies but rather to peddle junk from their gift shop without regard for the well-being of these beautiful creatures they're exploiting.

If you care about protecting God's creatures, do the right thing and steer clear...

We stopped here on our way home from our mini-vacation in Jim Thorpe. Our son is a reptile owner, and wanted to see the animals. It is very interesting. A butterfly room, a frog/gecko room, and an axolotl/turtle/millipede room. The butterfly room had a lot of flyers, which was nice. You can feed them with Gatorade dipped foam paint brushes. Really cool! The staff member (who may have been the owner) in the room had a lot of knowledge and gave us much information. The Day Gecko is adorable, as were the frogs, and my son had an interesting conversation with the staff member about their care. The highlight was the 3! Axolotls. My son loves them and it was so neat to see them up close. The staff member in that room was tremendously knowledgeable about them and their care. It is small. We were in and out in 45 minutes. If you have small kids, though, you could easily spend quite a bit of time here. There are a lot of activities to do, in addition to looking at animals. It is a bit pricey, $15 per person, which, again, may be more justified if you have small kids and spend a bit of time here. All in all, we were glad we stopped by. We all, but especially my son, really enjoyed visiting with the animals. And it was nice to meet people who are so caring and dedicated to taking care of animals and...