National Eagle Center — Attraction in Wabasha

My husband and I visited as a stop on our trip north to Red Wing. The building is gorgeous! Very clean and spacious. Great information on eagles and the surrounding area. We particularly enjoyed the Native American display/history of the surround area as we planned to spend time at Treasure Island. They announced when a eagle on the river swooped a fish and was eating it on the shoreline and everyone comically pressed up to the windows with their phones.

The real selling point was the "Live Eagle Program". Our presenter was Connor; an early 20's, bearded, Wisconsin born, highly energetic handler. He said he went to school for something like a "captive wildlife" but I would have bet on theater. He spoke loud and clear. No one grumbled that they couldn't hear or understand. His script had some amazing, punny, cringe-worthy jokes. (I mean that in the best way). He had people eye rolling and snorting throughout. I was most impressed because the crowd wasn't necessarily giving it back to him but he kept insanely high energy and very entertaining for the entirety of the program. His improv with the crowd and the kids was also great. Obviously he was knowledgeable in all things eagle as well.

Worth the admission and Connor is an...

So this is actually a museum / I don't know what kind of exhibit to anything that has the word "Eagle" in it, for $12 bucks a head. Frankly it was an odd and depressing place. They obviously needed to fill space so they have displays of food products, toys and anything else that either has the word Eagle in it's name or an image of an Eagle on it (interesting for about a second, then, not so much)... Let's talk about those poor miserable birds they have chained down to fake logs for people to gawk at. I fully understand that those birds are injured in some way, cannot fly would not survive in the wild anymore, but, chaining 3 of them in an open small area to be constantly surrounded by noise and people coming through to stare at them, is hardly doing them any favors. The birds where unpreened and looked miserable chained to their fake logs. An actual eagle rescue or rehabilitation center that wanted to show them off would have them in individual glassed habitats where they could choose their own perch and not be subjected to all the noise and humiliation of being chained down. It was frankly a sad place and I hope they put the 24 bucks I paid for 2 of us towards better use than what...

Very torn on this review. On the one hand, I love that they are caring for and rehabilitating eagles but on the other, I feel like there is so much room for improvement. $14 per person (not including the show which we did not attend). Saw the 3 eagles that they have tethered to logs in one room. I fully understand that these birds cannot be released due to their injuries and the center is able to keep them in a safe environment but this does not seem sufficient for the rest of their life. AZA accredited zoos have found ways to keep their eagles in a more natural environment (indoor/outdoor, clipped wings so they needn’t be tethered down, natural substrates). I am hopeful that they are receiving some type of enrichment behind the scenes. If they are, I think that an informational station discussing that would be a great addition to the center. The museum to me lacked in educational aspects of eagles in the wild, their care at the center, etc. Instead, there was a lot of eagle themed memorabilia. Overall, I do not think that the visit was worth the cost to enter but I do hope that the money goes towards their rehab efforts with the...