Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary — Attraction in Phelan

A last minute purchase from Groupon and my family and I set off for a day trip. On the Web a first impression is 5 stars. Great pictures, great marketing, easy to use.

Before taking off I knew that this place was located in the desert. So I was prepared for the 1.5 hour drive. What I didn't expect was the dirt road leading to the sanctuary from hwy 395. When I called they didn't mention it when I asked if there was anything I needed to know. For someone in a smaller vehicle expect a semi rough ride. Despite the surrounding area of abandoned shacks and automobiles, upon arrival it still remains a 5 star rating. The grounds are very well maintained and updated.

If you purchase guided tour tickets the last one ends by 2pm. If your visit is like mine, then be sure to arrive a little earlier because they may begin sooner then what is to be the presumed tour start time. In addition when purchasing tickets online for a tour (my suggestion) they should list tour times. I was not provided any of this information and it would have been a little more helpful. As for the tour, from what I observed, tour guides were very knowledgeable about the animals. I like how they were able to share their day to day accounts of the animals with guests. There are signs posted indicating rules and warnings. Hand sanitation is available if you have an opportunity during the tour to touch a reptile.

The outside habitats for the animals are well maintained. You will see Tigers, leopards, bobcats, falcons, llamas, alligators, piranhas, primates and other reptiles during your visit. They are sectioned off reasonably in my opinion which allows for the safety of their guests. I just wish the other tigers within the sanctuary were better placed in the sanctuary. There are some animals that are visible in the back but a much further distance.

My children had an opportunity to feed both the leopard and a bobcat. It was the best $10 spent. This part of their extreme package was worth the experience, even if it was over within 5 minutes. Although you feed the animals behind a double enclosed fence, my kids loved sharing their experience with friends and family. Overall, it wasn't a bad experience. A bit unorganized by staff but I think that was due to the lack of staff availability.

The duration should last about an hour to be fair but guests are welcome to stay longer after the tour which is a plus. At the moment, I feel like this is a place you can say "yea, I did that and it was fun!" but im just not certain it is something that I'd return to in the future. I gave this place a 4 star rating because of their negligence to communicate necessary information and because I feel it could use a little more to increase the awe factor of their establishment. I will definitely recommend this place to friends and family but perhaps my criticism / review can be used to help perfect the experience that future...

Being passionate about rescued animals, my husband surprised me with a visit here for my birthday a few months back. I have a background working with exotic animals, in rescue, and in veterinary. Primarily I work with parrots (which they have a lot of). I was extremely disappointed very quickly once getting here. The enclosures for almost everyone was either far too small or far too overcrowded. The few who’s enclosures were the proper size had little or no stimulation for them. Water bowls were dirty and some were not given nearly enough water (I know that sometimes, especially with birds, it’s hard to make sure water looks spotless all the time. But this was appalling). Working with rescued animals, stimulation is so important for their emotional health and healing. Animals were displaying obsessive behavior due to boredom (I.e. circling the small perimeter of their enclosure). The reptiles seemed to have better care but still had some serious faults. Far too many tortoises were kept in a display tank not nearly big enough for them all.

I understand that this is a sanctuary and they are doing what they can for rescued animals, but it is my belief that you should never take more than you have the space to care for. Hopefully these animals environments are at least better than where they came from. I can only hope that they have plans to move these animals to more permanent situations, unfortunately there was no one available for me to ask.

This would have been a lovely sanctuary should they not had overcrowded themselves and given themselves too many animals to even change their waters daily for. These poor, intelligent animals need more stimulation badly.

If you are looking for an awesome sanctuary to visit, I really recommend checking out Lions, Tigers, and Bears...

I want to start by saying still visit because the animals benefit from you contributing to the success of the business. Although it’s REALLY cool to see these exotic animals up close and personal, I think the owner could be more creative in providing adequate space for these animals. The Shetland pony (a very small pony that could easily be taken on walks or rehomed) was in a larger enclosure than the lion, tigers, and yes.. bear. These big normally free ranging animals were in the tiniest metal cages with no natural fauna or elements that would make their homes the least bit appealing. I was told that they’d run out of space and because they are a non profit they can’t expand further but really there has to be a better option, like set the raccoons free, give the domestic birds to people to take care of and build some big lush enclosures for the animals that really need it rather than wasting space providing cages for animals that could easily be taken care of in another setting. It was very sad to see and I would have been just as happy seeing fewer animals overall if the animals were the ones that really needed a sanctuary and...