Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, Isle of Wight Reviews Summary

Animal Encounters and Activities

Pros:

• "Being allowed to feed them was amazing."
• "Highly recommend breakfast with the tigers."
• "Seeing the monkeys and lions get fed and visitors (who paid for the experience) spend time with Meercats eating around them."
• "We got to see them feeding the spider monkeys which was informative and entertaining at the same time."
• "The animals were out of this world! Lions, Tigers - all playing and having fun, feeding and all very alert and interactive with the keepers."
• "Keepers also had little fun things for the kids to see and try and even taught how to talk 'Tiger language' which actually worked!"
• "We had the best day visiting Wildheart Animal Sanctuary."

Cons:

• "All theme is looks like some bored farmer build some constructions and decide to open ZOO."
• "It was a depressingly small space for for such impressive creatures."
• "There was little for the animals to do, a complete lack of enrichment."
• "One of the tigers seemed to have a bad leg and some of the other animals seem very cold in their stalls."
• "Needs updating enclosures need enlarging animals didn't seem all that happy."
• "The tiger and lion were not as healthy as those at Edinburgh zoo and the limbs of them were distorted from previous circus trainings and not moving as free and fast."
• "Hardly a troop. There must be more than 2 monkeys that need sanctuary."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "The staff were brilliant and so friendly."
• "All the keepers and staff were so knowledgeable and friendly."
• "The keeper talks were friendly and informative."
• "As we walked round its amazing now friendly the staff and park keepers are, speak to you ask any question have and there are guided talks as well."
• "The staff were as always very kind and caring."
• "The staff are fantastic and know all about the animals - their habitats, and the little details - about their quirks and their beautiful personalities."
• "The staff were very knowledgeable about the animals and happy to answer our questions."

Cons:

• "Was being begged for donations immediately on entering which threw me off a bit."
• "The only let down for us was the cafe. It could have been a bit cleaner."
• "Unfortunately the reptile area was closed for maintenance."
• "The cafe is quite small and could do with being bigger. People couldn't find a table for lunch it was that busy. Not a very large selection on the menu either."
• "The only thing I would not recommend is the food as it took a long time to arrive and apart from the chips were completely inedible."
• "The only thing I wish their had been was a bit more information on the work they've done or information about the animals during the talks scheduled throughout the day."
• "There’s not enough baby changing facilities and you can’t push a pram in a lot of areas of the park."

Value and Facilities

Pros:

• "£14 per adult for entry (excludes £3 parking). Only took us about 90 minutes to see everything including the lion feeding, but well worth the money."
• "The sanctuary has improved a lot since I was last there. There are new spacious cages and work on the grounds."
• "The gift shop has tons of goodies, the vegan cafe was good, decent price, clean, and there’s a space for kids to play and read."
• "There is plenty of parking, the staff are very friendly and helpful and there are plenty of experiences to take advantage of."
• "This sanctuary is well worth supporting. Apart from caring for the rescued animals, some of the admission money supports overseas conservation."
• "Not at all expensive, and if you keep the receipt you can get back any day for £1 during the same week."
• "The £1 pp to return within 7 days was also a fantastic idea and worth doing if particularly busy or you arrive later in the day."

Cons:

• "Downside is you have to pay for parking which is an extra cost as the sanctuary do not own the car park."
• "It does need investment as some areas look very tired."
• "Grounds need improving."
• "The facility is very simple and there are not many chairs except near the reception."
• "On a side note you have to pay for the car park which was £3 for 10 hours as it's owned by someone else."
• "You also have to pay for parking, despite already paying entry to the park!"
• "Having to pay for the carpark as well as entry was an unpleasant surprise."