forever wild exotic animal sanctuary

This unique and intimate setting to enjoy wild animals is really worth a trip. Featured on the TV show Extreme Home MakeOver a few years ago, the show helped this sanimal sanctuary be more accessible to the public and better able to care for more animals.A small fee to enter and a small fee to be able to feed some of the big cats is really a thrill. The workers are friendly and answer questions and tell you so much about each animal you feel like family.Long dirt road, dont wash your car before you go, and poor signage off of Phelan Road, keep your eyes peeled or you may miss it on the first pass :)

We drove from Chino Hills, Ca to Phelan to visit Forever Wild. There is a groupon deal until Feb. 2015. $5 admission, usually $8. It took us about an hour to drive from here. The ladies that work outside were knowledgable and nice. We paid the $10 to feed a tiger. WORTH IT! If I can figure out how to post the sloth video, I'll post that too. If you get a chance to visit and want to see some animals closer than in a zoo, this is a great place.

We chose the VIP tour and it was a value based on all the time our tour guide took with us. We really felt like VIP's! Because we brought some donations from the wish list on the web site, we got there early, and were able to spend some quality time with Scotty, the 3 month old Red Tail Hawk.We toured the reptile room, where we saw more than 30 venomous reptiles. If venomous creatures don't get you, perhaps the phirranah will.From there we went out to the yard to see the marmosets, tropical birds, Australian singing dogs, alpacas, llamas, deer, monkeys, pot belly pig, donkey, horse, and talking crow.Now on to the carnivore section! We got to feed, YES, FEED the lion, several servals, bob cats, lynx, mountain lions, more than 10 tigers, leopards, gators and raccoons.I can't say enough wonderful things about this place!Here are some tips:1. Call ahead to either make arrangements for a guided tour (well worth the price), or just to find out about the weather conditions.2. Wear sunscreen! I didn't take that advise, and am still red.3. Bring a picnic lunch. There are plenty of tables in the shade to rest and refresh after your tour. I hope you enjoy your time as much as I did. I can't wait to go back!

Took my son this past weekend and loved it! You get so close to the animals. For a small fee, you can even feed any animal you want. My son fed a female lion and a panther, my husband fed 2 tigers. It was very eerie to stand in a room surrounded by numerous venomous snakes. Great place for all ages.

Took my daughter, her hubby and my grand kids. As you travel down a dirt road to get to it, the kids got excited. Where we going? It was an adventure in itself. At the end of the road you see the sanctuary. Inside you will find friendly people and lot's of things to look at. Lot's of snakes, a bird or two, hedgehogs, educational books, gifts. Nice to see that Extreme makeover helped out the fur and feather friends that have been abandoned, abused, or confiscated in drug busts! The family needed a good place to keep them all safe and after living in a mobile home, now have a roof over their head and a place for their animals. You can feed the leopard, tiger or cats if you'd like, there is a cost involved for that. It was great to hear the growl of the leopard. I've never heard that before. They have llama, a horse, allegators and a lot of volunteer's to make it all possible too. They keep the doors open by donations and need donations to help feed and continue their work. So, please make sure you help them out to help continue saving these animals. What food they have left over, they also donate to other local sanctuaries in the area to help them ot as well. This is a must see for sure. Just make sure you bring a warm jacket as it can get breezy and chilly there. We went in November and it was quite chilly.

It was hard to award a star for this attraction since we didn't get to see much of it.We saw an ad for this attraction in the magazine in our hotel in Hesperia. We were traveling with two grandkids, ages 11 and 7. They were very excited to go! We called the number in the ad, and it indicated they were open every day except Christmas. It was New Year's Eve at about 1 pm, so we headed out. Unfortunately, after we traversed some nasty dirt roads, we arrived, only to find out they were closed! We could see some animals from the outside (some tigers and some dogs). A lady finally came to the front door and said they'd closed early because it was New Year's Eve. We would like to go back. Now after seeing the other reviews, it appears this location truly isn't open every day except Christmas. Would it be that difficult to change the recording? We are big advocates of animals and their protection, and our friend worked on this project through the Home Makeover Show, so we'd really like to visit -- but we don't want to drive 100 miles for nothing.

The previous reviewer has a spot on review but just want to share a few additional items.Like most zoos/sanctuaries/shelters the pens and enclosures are always too small. Please remember most of these animals are here because they are unreleasable and can't survive in the wild. The extreme feed was the highlight of our visit. Bring a donation from their wish list and you can get an extreme feed (for the big cats) for free. Please be generous with your donation. Or select to pay $10adult/$5child upon arrival for the feed. This is a must!The animal profiles are avilable on their web page, including a 3-legged serval. Recommend visiting during the cooler seasons but the 3-mile dirt road is not always passable.

Located in Phelan, Ca Forever Wild is about 50 min from Redlands, Ca. Be sure to check before you leave that they are open. Also, being down a dirt road, there can be difficulty if it has rained recently. Low clearance or fancy cars probably should be left at home also as the dirt road does have ruts / washboard features. Forever Wild is a great way to get closer than you've probably been to Lions and Tigers and several venomous snakes. It's a smaller site and can probably be seen thoroughly in about 2 hrs. There is a small gift shop area with restrooms and some snacks available. Inside you will also find a very impressive collection of venomous snakes. I had no idea that there were so many different kinds of rattlesnake. There is a cobra, black mamba, pit viper, and so on. You can stare them right in the eyes as the cages are glass and the snakes right up front often. There are sugar gliders, turtles, talking parrots, frogs, insects, and alligators. Outside there are some monkeys, a fox, a deer, farm animals, more parrots, a hawk, and singing dogs!The prime display are the Tigers, lions, servals, bobcats, raccoons, and leopards. You can get reasonably close which is fun. The large cats and most of the smaller cats spend most of the time napping and lounging. The lioness was very active one day we were there however and was very amusing with here antics. If your lucky there might be the occasional roar or purr. One very fun activity is the Extreme Feed. You will get to feed a great cat a chunk of meat on a metal rod. They are very impressive when they grab their snack, if you can get them up from their lazing about to come and get it. We have fed them twice, once the lady that was helping us was super fun, very engaging, shared lots of tidbits of knowledge and the tigers and lions really liked her you could tell. The second time was not really that fun as the young lady that did the feeding was something of a grump, not at all interested in her task of helping the tourists, and frankly would probably rather be feeding us to the lion instead of the meat chunk snack. So at this point it's 50/50 as to whether you'll enjoy the zoo keeper or not. Bring some sandwiches and enjoy the picnic tables on the museum porch area. Entry is $8.00 for adults and $4.00 for kids so a fair price for an enjoyable activity. $10 to do the extreme feed which is also very fair. Special / group tours can be arranged ahead of time. http://www.foreverwildexotics.org/