Elise Adria

Review of World Bird Sanctuary

This was the ABSOLUTE WORST experience I have ever...

This was the ABSOLUTE WORST experience I have ever had at a place that very wrongly calls itself a sanctuary. I love lone elk park and frequent it very often and have seen the sign for World Bird countless times always wanting to go there. I was thrilled when my boyfriend and I finally got the chance to stop in. The very first exhibit we walked up to was for lack of better terms- a dirty wood chipped fenced in area maybe a 3rd of the size of a tennis court with about 10 birds in it. Each bird was tied to a post sticking from the ground with with leeway of maybe a foot around them to walk. Birds of prey were stuck next to predatory birds, obviously creating an EXTREMELY stressful environment for all the birds around. And what made me know how mistreated these birds were was that not one was moving. Each had a dead, lifeless stare like they had long ago given up trying to escape or being afraid of the other birds around them. One vulture tried to get off its post and move even a foot on the ground and fell, struggling like something was wrong with one of its feet and one of its wings. Another birds eye looked very infected. As an animal lover I was absolutely HORRIFIED, and decided to ask an employee there about the birds--if they were ever allowed time not tied down, where they went at night, etc. He was an older man and incredibly rude, telling me these animals never get a chance to fly or be untied and are moved to cages at night and in the winter. His reasoning was that since birds perch on trees in the wild that this was a suitable environment for them being tied to a perch and would be "what they do all day in the wild anyway." He assured me that the birds were as happy as they would be in the wild. He compared the birds to the laziness of humans and said since humans sit around all day and don't use their feet that birds are the same and don't feel the need to fly or use their wings all the time. To me for anyone who knows even the slightest bit about wild animals this is TOTALLY wrong. He said that suitable environments "cost too much money" and that if this place closed all the birds within it would be euthanized. This man literally had me in tears at the end of the conversation because of how wrong he was and how frustrated I was with the mistreatment of these beautiful animals and me and my boyfriend left immediately. They would be better off in a zoo environment than this facility which is definitely saying something. I will be contacting as many environmental organizations as I can to close this "sanctuary" or at least create suitable environments for these birds. NEVER bring your children here if you want them to have a real idea of how animals should be treated and that wild creatures aren't something that should suffer tied to the ground just for our viewing pleasure.