京都ひょう猫の森 — Restaurant in Kyoto

The cat section was very wholesome, but the owls' were a different story.

When I was exploring with my friends. We stumbled upon this place. Wanting to see cute animals, we decided to see the owls. Initially I felt happy to see these beautiful creatures up close; but the more I saw, the worse I felt.

These owls were chained/tied to their branches, so they were forced to stay in place as people pet them. Some would try to peck at you to let you know they don't want to be touched. Others would even try to pull against their restraints. Many may seem indifferent about it, but I suspect that they probably gave up trying. Some seemed to attempt sleep, but the employee insisted they were just 'relaxing'. I'm not an expert, but I don't think that's the case.

We have to remember that owls are not like cats and dogs. Most of them are not bread to have a mutual relationship with humans. They are mostly wild by nature, not domesticated.

I would ultimately discourage anyone from going if you truly love animals. I think money speaks louder to this company than their...

It was so good!! There were so many types of owls there and there were all amazingly cute! All the owls were tied to a specific spot on a branch so they couldn't move much. They are used to this though since young. The barn owls kept bobbing up and down which was cute. Some owls did not like being touched. Some wanted to bite me. But understandable. There was one beginner owl we couldn't touch and a few birds on break so we couldn't touch them. Overall cute ctfe set up and great experience 😜😜 As for the cats they were really exotic and cool! They liked like mini leopards due to their fur colouring and their long skinny bodies. Some cats slept on humans laps and some were walking on tree branches. None had issues with humans. No biting nor scratching at all. Loved...

The Arashiyama Owls’ Forest conditions were disgraceful. I wouldn’t even give this place a one star. I was saddened by what I witnessed. Owls were tethered to perches clearly distressed not wanting to be groped by visitors. Visitors were not following the rules we were initially told upon entry and poking the owls to the point one tried to fly away and due to its tether ended up hanging upside down until it figured out how to right itself. There were no employees around to regulate visitor behaviour. Please do not give your money to this place. I wish I had seen the reviews when I looked it up online after the fact before spending money and contributing...