The Creature Conservancy, Michigan, United States

5sarah l 5:00 PM Nov 10, 2020

Private tour experience
This a great opportunity to see and learn about some exotic animals while supporting a conservancy that works hard to educate the public on the perils of exotic pet ownership. The majority of the animals are surrendered and rescued former pets that do not qualify for release back into the wild. Walking though the tour with Alexander you can get a feel for how well cared for and loved these animals are. A great local experience. The private tour (great during these strange Covid times) can be booked for fair price and lasts about 90 minutes.

4Chad C 5:00 PM Aug 16, 2015

Fantastic with Proper Expectations
My wife and I visited the Creature Conservancy on a sort of impromptu day trip from Grand Rapids. We are both animal lovers, and my wife has been on a bit of a sloth kick, so when I saw that the featured animal this month was a two-toed sloth named Poco, I knew that we were in business! I wasn't quite sure what to expect, as most of the reviews mentioned that they came to the Conservancy for the sake of children, and we are without children. However, the sloth presentation was very informative, and we got some good photos of Poco. We arrived at the Conservancy, which is behind an animal hospital and can be pretty easy to miss, at around 1:45 knowing that they close up shop at 5, and the sloth presentation was at 4. I wasn't sure if this was going to give us too little time to wander, too much time, or be adequate. Turns out it was the perfect amount of time! Before even entering into the Conservancy, you can see a number of displays, including a couple of Arctic Foxes, a crazy turkey named Redneck who is never too shy to entertain a crowd, and a couple of adorable deer-like creatures. Once inside the gates, there are a number of displays outside, including emus, tortoises, a mountain lion, and a bunch of McCaws. Inside they have an American alligator, kangaroos, a wallaby, prairie dogs, and a number of other small displays, including a room with a number of animals in kiddie-pool displays (turtles, toads, an armadillo) and a volunteer carrying around a boa constrictor that you can touch, as well as a couple baby possums and a warthog! Also, each month they have a feature animal with two presentations each day they are open (this month was Poco, the sloth, next month is an African porcupine named Bedhead). All in all, we did have a wonderful time exploring the grounds, checking out the displays, and learning about the various animals. My one recommendation, however, to ensure that you enjoy your time is to have proper expectations. This is a conservancy and education center, not a zoo. As such, the displays aren't extremely large or numerous and, while the species were quite varied, there certainly isn't the diversity you would find at a zoo. Though, there are perks with that too! You are able to get up close and personal with more animals, there are less crowds, all of the staff are volunteers who you can tell actually want to be there and care about the animals they interact with, and, more importantly, all of the animals there have a story and many come from poor situations and are rescued and cared for by the good folks at the Creature Conservancy. All that said, if you have the right expectations, it is well-worth the 8 dollars (for adults, cheaper for kids of course) to spend a couple hours hanging out and learning about animals you might not normally get a chance to see or interact with!