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Visiting Costa Rican Wildlife has never been easier

Are you searching for places to see animals near me? Why not visit Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center where you can see wild animals in large, highly natural habitats.

Have you been surfing the net wondering where to see animals near me in Costa Rica? Well there is no better place to start than Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center, a non-profit wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and release center located in La Garita de Alajuela, just 15 minutes from the Juan Santamarita airport. Much closer than the San Jose zoo, Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center is one of the places to see animals where your visit actually helps to return wild injured, orphaned or confiscated animals back to their natural habitats.

During your visit you can see over 800 animals that are being provided with high quality care in the rescue centers’ Life-time Care Sanctuary, nestled amongst 36 acres of natural forest. The animals you visit in the Life-time Care Sanctuary are all non-releasable due to physical or psychological challenges that prevent them from being able to survive in the wild. Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center rescues over 2,700 animals every year with only 2% of them needing to remain under life-time care, the rest are released back into the wild.

In addition to being a great place to see animals in our Life-time Care Sanctuary, you will also find a stunning array of flowers and plants in the 13 acre botanical gardens that surround the wild animal habitats. There are over 125 species of animals to see, among them sloths, jaguar, monkeys, toucans, coyotes, pumas, small cats and many more species of birds, mammals and reptiles. The large habitats are naturally designed to offer the animals you see a quality of life and physical as well as psychological enrichment.

Facilities

When you come to our sanctuary to visit our animals you will find ample, free parking in a gated lot with a full-time security guard. Our paved pathways and public restrooms are fully accessible and we also offer free wheelchairs. For the little ones in your group, you can rent adorable mini push cars and wagons that will not only help you easily transport the kids and your belongings around the sanctuary, but will also keep them entertained.

Within the Life-time Care Sanctuary, you will find many things to do in addition to seeing animals. Browse through our gift shop that features local arts and crafts, sample our delicious home-made fresh juice popsicles at our ice cream shop, sip a fabulous cup of Costa Rican coffee in our café, or see animals from an entirely different perspective on our exciting zip-line canopy tour. Tame enough for youngsters, but still thrilling for adults too.

Coming to see animals at Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center is a great educational activity for children as well as adults as you will have an opportunity to see animals in their natural habitats and learn about their importance in the ecosystem. The Mini-Farm is an area that includes two hectares, surrounded by green pastures, comfortable enclosures and wide paths. A great way to spend time with the family. Here children can see domestic animals including; three miniature horses, a miniature donkey, a miniature pig, sheep, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, love birds, parakeets, doves, canaries, golden and silver pheasants and numerous peacocks including rare white peacocks. In addition to seeing the animals in the mini-farm, children have the opportunity to pet and feed them under the careful supervision of our trained animal caretakers. Here children of all ages learn love and respect for the animals they see and come to understand the important role of animals of all kinds. The mini-farm is also utilized as a teaching tool for our environmental education program.

When you are ready to take a break from seeing the animals, relax and refresh at our Kivu Restaurant where you will find fresh home-style meals with options to please everyone, from flavorful typical Costa Rican fare to delicious American style cuisine. You can top it all off with a refreshing Margarita, Mohita or alcohol-free cocktail and a wide variety of fabulous deserts.

So if you are in Costa Rica searching for animal places to visit near me, come visit Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center, one of the best animal places to visit in the country.

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When you come to visit the animals at Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center, you are helping to preserve Costa Rica’s amazing biodiversity. All the crucial work of wildlife conservation, rescue, rehabilitation and release that takes place at Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center is made possible thanks to generous donations as well as the entry fees from people who come to visit the animals in our Life-time Care Sanctuary. You can also help the animals by participating in our Volunteer Program. If you are not able to visit the animals in person, you can still help them by making a donation to support their care and rehabilitation.

Our Animals Need Your Help

We rely on your kind donations to maintain our sanctuary and look after the animals.

You can do more to help

By donating online today, you're helping us look after Costa Rica's wildlife and biodiversity.

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Our Prices

Open every day from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

What a wonderful place! Rescued animals only, living in quite decent facilities. Unless you've got months, there will be some native fauna you'll miss on various tours around the country - here, you can see them all. Signage describing animal's situations in some cases even cite the method used to calculate each habitat size. Staff were great - Jose at the zip line was super helpful and informative about Zoo Ave, animal feeding, and lots more. Something for everyone - small ones, teens and adults. Don't miss it.

Wonderful walk through a very lush open wildlife rescue. The iguana’s roam free around the zoo along with a number of chimps and birds. We walked the loop a few times as some of the animals weren’t active in the muggy heat of the high afternoon. Our faves were the toucans, iguanas, turtles and monkeys. The various cats they had there were doing the usual lazy cat thing and sleeping. We did get rewarded with a sloth “sliding” head first into its food dish, but that was about it from them. Worth the detour.

Very nice place to see all kind of animals and birds, a bit high the price but when you think that you're helping animals to get back to nature, is all OK, there's food, snacks and souvenirs inside, perfect to spend a day with mature

This is a great place to see animals guilt free, since these are rescued animals that can not be released in the wild. I don't concidero that the entrance fee was expensive at all and we had a great time.

Do not tease, disturb, touch or throw anything at animals, including the ones walking freely around the park, specially iguanas and peacocks, because they animals react violently.
Pet animals are not permited to enter park.
Do not feed the animals since they are on a strict died and human food can make them sick.
Alcoholic beverages and people under the influence of liquor/drugs are not allowed into the park.
Always stay on pathways, respect barriers, the signs "NO PASE" means entrance prohibited.
Do not smoke in the park.
Do not run in the park.
Please put trash in the trash cans.
Do not shout or play music because it may disturb animals.
Do not take pictures with flash.
No selfies with the animals.
Take care of vegetation, signs and park installations because is the house of our animals.
If you bring your own food, it must be eaten in the designated picnic areas.
Children must be under the supervision of an adult at all times. No exceptions.
Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center reserves the right to either refuse admission or to expel visitors that do not follow these rules. We will not be responsible for any accidents that may happen due violation of the listed rules.