This place is a gem...good people doing great work to care for previously neglected animals. For a small donation per person ($20 -all of which goes directly back to caring for the animals), you are taken on a tour of the entire sanctuary. Our knowledgeable and personable guide, intern Destini, was great! She explained the back story of each animal and answered our questions throughout the tour. These animals are able to live with as much care and freedom as possible now that they have a sanctuary to meet their needs. The grounds are well taken care of and you can tell that each person who works here is dedicated to the mission. I will definitely be back to visit and support IEAS. read more

International Exotic Animal Sanctuary - Zoos Near Me

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Yelp managed to screw up my 900th review, so I get to go again! I can't think of a better place for my 900th review. IEAS is a place everyone needs to go. Some people get wild animals as pets when they are small. When they get to big to handle, they have to go somewhere. There are sanctuaries all over the United States, with quite a few in Texas. Located in Boyd, you would never know it's there. IEAS is run by volunteers and donations. They are zoo accredited. They have 50 acres to work with. Cages is a terrible name for the habitats these animals live in. Some are acres large and the animals can roam freely. Yes, it's perfectly safe to visit. They've gone to a lot of trouble for the safety of the animals and people. In addition to management, there are interns that live onsite and do all the work. They have volunteer veterinary services that come every week to check the animals. There are grocery chains that donate food. I was so impressed with the dedication of every single person there. It's $20 for adults and $10 for kids to take the tour. This is a donation. Feel free to give more or less, whatever you can afford. Since no one else showed up, Lisa, one of the interns, was our personal tour guide. We loved it. There are currently 74 different animals here, and she knows the name of every one! She knew where they came from and why they were here. Some of the stories will break your heart, but ending up here is a good thing. Animals stay here till they die. See the memorial page on their website. Many of the animals have become used to people, and appear friendly. NO, you can't pet them, but they are so beautiful you will fall in love with them. The pictures we took just don't do them justice. They are beautiful. You need to see them for yourself. Tours last 2 hours and you will enjoy every minute. LOTS of walking so wear comfortable shoes. See their website for details. Everyone that can, please go. They need the donations, and you'll have a great time! read more

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Do yourself a favor and come here. Remind yourself that for all the bad in the world, there are people working tirelessly to do good. The people at the IEAS are welcoming and friendly. The hours may be confusing, but that's because you should arrive at 10:45 am, for the tour which begins at 11:00 am. Our tour was approximately 90 minutes. It was incredible to weave in and out of these vast habitats filled with tigers, servals, bears, lions, etc. This isn't a zoo. It's where animals belong if they cannot be in the wild. Please come and support them! They respect these creatures in a way much of the world doesn't. They need our continued awareness and support to keep running. You will have so much fun and leave very content. Thank you IEAS!!! read more

International Exotic Animal Sanctuary - Zoos Near Me

This place is amazing! I highly recommend it. This is probably the best thing we have done in a long time. The tours are every day at 11:00am and are donation only. All the money goes to pay for food for these beautiful animals. I learned so much today and look forward to going back. The tour takes about 2 hours so bring walking shoes. We had a small backpack with bottle waters as well. Bring a camera because you will want to take so many pictures. read more

International Exotic Animal Sanctuary - You get so close to the animals and learn all about their rescue. This tiger was "practicing" stalking us but didn't do a very good job - Zoos Near Me

They shut the doors to the public so we community members can't even go inside and enjoy what they are doing

The Fort Worth Zoo is nice, but I love the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary just as much if not more. The IEAS is a non-profit organization providing care for abandoned, mistreated, orphaned or illegally gotten tigers, lions, jaguars, bobcats, other cats I can't pronounce the names of and grizzly bears. That's right, lions, tigers and bears OH MY! The animal habitats are top notch and it is obvious the animals recieve excellent care. For a 20 dollar donation you can take a tour at 11 am. You have to stay on the pathway. You are not allowed to go right up to the cages because they don't want you to be eaten. You have to be 7 years old or older and I saw first hand why. We had an 8 year old boy in our tour group. The jaguar sized up the whole group and then gave the death stare to the little one. If there was no fence, 8 year old woulda been dinner. I thoroughly enjoyed our morning at the IEAS. This place is a hidden gem and only 35 minutes or so north of downtown Fort Worth. It would be a great "day date" idea or a fantastic place to take children who need pried away from the television. Grab your friends and go visit; they need all the donations they can get to take care of their marvelous animals. Pictures attached. My shots don't do it justice. Go visit and take your own pictures. Unlike the Fort Worth Zoo, you won't have to fight with any crowds to get a picture. The tour groups are kept small so people can ask questions about the animals and get informed answers from the big cat caretakers. Also they recycle old cell phones here. Some chemical combination in cell phones is mined from Big Cat natural habitat. So if you have an old cell phone you don't know what to do with... give it to them and they'll have the desirable chemical compounds recycled to lessen your carbon footprint. read more

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Amazing!! We got the BEST tour from Lisa, and learned a lot about each of the animals we saw. It was obvious that everyone really cares about the animals, the facility is immaculate and animals are clearly happy. This is the best "zoo" experience I've ever had. This will become the first stop when we have out of town visitors. I'm so glad places like this exist to take care of animals that people put in danger. read more

You can actually buy a baby tiger for less than the cost of a Labradoodle.* The underground market for tigers and other exotic animals is, apparently, thriving; one advocacy group's estimate is that there are over 3,000 tigers being kept as pets, or as attractions in roadside zoos, just in Texas. If that's accurate, it means there are more of them in Texas than are left in India. Predatory animals are tough, and expensive, to take care of, though, and many end up malnourished, living in filth and squalor, killed or abandoned to sanctuaries. The International Exotic Animal Sanctuary has taken in over 70 large predators, mostly tigers but also a few lions, bears, and bobcats. In spite of how depressing the situation can be for these animals the sanctuary is quite a sight. The pens are quite large and well-designed (and also look quite sturdy). The animals are huge and healthy-looking. Seriously, breathtaking. A tour of the sanctuary last around an hour and gets you surprisingly close looks at the animals. You learn about how most of them came to the sanctuary, how the sanctuary takes are of them, and a little about the personalities of the animals. You also see the kitchen where food for lions, tigers, bears, etc, is prepared. They only do tours at scheduled times and only during the day. They told my tour that at night you can hear the tigers making noises to communicate with each other, which must be pretty amazing. The overall impression I got from the sanctuary tour was that it was a bunch of very smart people taking very good care of animals that shouldn't be here in the first place. The sanctuary people are resourceful, too: a local grocery store donates old produce for the bears; the tigers eat a combination of meat, organ and bone that the sanctuary gets from a beef slaughterhouse someplace. The sanctuary is roughly 50 miles northwest of Dallas. They a $20 donation for the tour, but you should strongly consider giving them more. * Not an exaggeration. read more

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We recently visited the sanctuary not really knowing what to expect, but we were really blown away! The animals' cages are much larger than we expected and they all seemed really happy in their little homes and lots of the animals were so sweet looking and you could tell they just wanted to play with you. Adorable! I would definitely recommend coming here to anyone interested in animals because we had such a fun time on our 2+ hour tour. I would assume it would be really hot and uncomfortable to do this in the summer when its 100+ degrees so I'm glad we did it in the spring =) As a note, it says right on their website that you can't bring kids under 7 so read the website carefully before booking a tour! read more

International Exotic Animal Sanctuary - Zoos Near Me

Used to be a volunteer and the people were more scary than the cats . I don't like bears . The original people got pushed out .

This is a great place that puts the care and well being of the animals above the public. I love the way the animals appear content in their habitats. Our guide was fun and well versed on the animals he introduced us to. Their is an obvious connection between the caregivers and the animals. I will be visiting again! Of note- there is a good bit of walking and climbing of stairs. read more

Friendly, knowledgeable staff who are very attentive to patrons and the animals being cared for at the facility.

Wonder staff and accommodating to my Mom would couldn't walk. A must visit! Animals are well loved and taken care off.

What a marvelous place. I wish we had more places like this - or better yet, I wish places like this were unnecessary. But I digress... This is a rescue sanctuary, and they prove it. Their top priority is the comfort and safety and emotional health of the animals. As such, you may not be able to see everyone as closely as you want. You may be asked to be quiet, walk slowly, or whatever, but it is because these people care so very much about these poor animals, rescued from horrific situations. You get a tour of the "kitchen" and told about their diet. I have some knowledge of what captive animals need, and these wonderful people are truly ensuring the long-term health of these animals, balancing what each individual needs to stay healthy or become healthy if recently rescued. Their patience and heart and knowledge is commendable and heartwarming. This is well worth the trip and the donation to see how magnificent these creatures are and how important it is to save them and treat them right. Now if I could just get a list of the names of people who owned these animals before they were rescued...I wouldn't mind giving them a taste of the treatment they imposed. read more

Completely run with donations, and these people do amazing things with a tiny bit of money. They get animals from all over the United States and keep them happy and healthy until they leave this planet. The tour was wonderful and so informative. The animals were all very well cared for, fat and happy. The bears and other animals did not seem scared or frightened by all of us looking at them. Worth a trip. Come when it's not so hot, you will enjoy it much more. read more

International Exotic Animal Sanctuary - Front of building - Zoos Near Me

I can't believe I'm only the third person to review this place. Me and the Hubs took a tour this past weekend. This place is amazing! And sad. Sad because of why the animals are here. Amazing for the work the staff and volunteers are doing. Read the other Yelpers' reviews and take a look at the org's web site to get the scoop on this place (I see no need to restate what's already been said). The point of my review is to reiterate what a worthwhile organization this is and to encourage those of you who haven't been to go for a tour. They request a $20 donation per person, but please give more if you can. Also please note that no kids under 7 years of age are allowed on the tour! read more

This makes a wonderful little day trip from Dallas. Tours are a $20 suggested donation and you're guided by a very knowledgeable intern. It's mostly Lions and Tigers that have been rescued, but also other smaller wild cats as well as bears and some other assorted animals. Only drawback is that you leave wanting to track down anyone thinks it's a good idea to buy a tiger as a pet and make them live in a 4x4 cage with only dog food to eat. read more

Awesome. Remember this a sanctuary, not a zoo. They are there to give these animals as best a remaining life as they can have in captivity. While they also give tours, the tour is secondary. Having said that, the tours are also great. Our tour guide we had was great. You can tell she really is there for the animals. Highly recommend her but can't remember her name It's 2+ hours so make sure you can walk that long and pick a nice day. read more

I've always considered myself a cool cat, but after this... I'm average at best. Still a dog guy though.

Amazing animal encounter experience!!! The big cats here are beautiful and well taken care of. The service was excellent and the tour guide was very knowledgeable. Great facility and walking tour experience. I particularly enjoyed seeing the wolves and lion here. Absolutely awesome! read more

This place is awesome! They do so many great things for these animals. I definitely recommend visiting IEAS. read more

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Wonderful experience. Our tour guide Phoebe was amazing m; very informative and funny. Definitely worth the trip.

Great place... They have lions & tigers & bears oh my and so much more. I took my grand daughter there during Spring break. It was very educational and fun. If I could I'd spend all day there watching the animals. They have nice big habitats and lookout areas to get a good view of the bears. read more

IEAS is the best. Starting with the staff. Jeremy is the person who reserved my husband and my tour. We had a somewhat unusual request. Because we are moving out of state soon, we wanted to purchase a "Friend of the Animal" pack and use it the same day as the tour. He was more than accommodating. After the tour he helped me pick a cat to sit with that he felt would be an exciting visit and made a special postcard out of the cat's picture for me to purchase. He went OVER AND BEYOND to make our last trip great. Mary was the intern who took my husband and I to sit with the cats. She was very knowledgable and friendly. I really enjoyed talking to her and learning about the cats in more detail. I highly recommend spending a little extra and getting the packet. You can tell that all of the money goes into the facility and taking care of the animals. Jennifer was our tour guide. She was also very knowledge, nice, and kept the tour at a good pace. I thought she did a good job taking control of the tour. There were about 5 kids in our group. I love how IEAS has an age requirement. I think 7+ is very appropriate. The kids in our group were very smart and asked great questions. The facility itself was very well maintained. They rely a lot on donations. The animals are their NUMBER ONE priority. If an animal seems agitated, the tour moves past. Enclosures are big... Two hour tour.... Bring water... Have fun! read more

A beautiful tour of saved animals. The care that is given for these beautiful creatures is top quality. They give them enrichment and room to play. I enjoyed the fact that if the animal gets upset at your presence that we are moved away from them as to give them peace. You can tell the keepers here love their animals and are very knowledgeable. Much better than a Zoo with small enclosures and people constantly agitating the animals. Well worth the donation cost of the tour. read more

A very fine work is done by this sanctuary, and we are thankful to have been able to tour the habitats and grounds. Living close by, as we do, we would like to visit more frequently. The suggested donation of $30 per person was a bit high for our party, however. I do understand that a great deal of money is needed to care for these precious animals (we witnessed the slabs of meat required to keep a big cat's belly full - oh, my!). read more