Buzz Busey

Review of The Wild Animal Sanctuary

The facility appears to be well maintained and the...

The facility appears to be well maintained and the animals appear (from a distance) to be well fed and well taken care of.
My problem is with the admission policies. You are required to let them scan your drivers license into their system. When I asked about this, they said it is because they are a non-profit and it is to put our information in their files. In these days of data breeches and hacking, no thanks. No other non-profit that I have visited; museums, zoo's, aquariums, etc have required that. If we had not been with a group, I would have refused it and driven the hour and a half home without entering.
The second thing that really bothers me is that in addition to the $30 admission, you are REQUIRED to make a donation! It can be as small as a dollar, but you must make a donation. Last I checked, donations were free-will giving. If you want to give one, awesome, the staff requesting one - fine!, but to REQUIRE a donation??? My wife and I have both worked in an AAZPA accredited zoo and we understand what it costs to maintain the animals, but there are better ways to fundraise than force someone to donate in addition to the admission fee. I'm sorry, but we will NEVER go back to this facility, nor will we recommend it to others.