I'm not exaggerating when I say this was a life-changing experience. These elephants are the most majestic, gentle, intelligent creatures I've ever been this close to. Seeing them up close in such a loving, respectful environment truly moved me. You can tell how well they are cared for, in every way. The staff were incredibly knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. I walked away with a deeper understanding of elephants and their behaviors. I was really touched by seeing the bond these animals share with the caretakers and the way the caretakers feel in return may be even stronger. You can really see in every action these people are not there for a paycheck or a cool story - they are there for these animals. I was a little hesitant about visiting because I didn't want to feel like I was taking part in the exploitation of the elephants, but it did not have that vibe at all! Learning more about their history made me feel better about this. My favorite part was when they "release" them out into basically a huge playground. It was rainy the day we went but the elephants LOVED IT. They were playing in mud puddles and the younger ones were running around like puppies. Precious. You could really see their individual personalities here and the subtle ways the older ladies all work together to parent the youngins! I honestly feel so lucky to have had this experience. I did the most expensive option but it was worth every penny. If you're considering visiting--do it. It's something you'll never forget. read more

Endangered Ark Foundation - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me

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We chose to take a couple granddaughters here (after their requests). It is an absolutely fantastic place! The animals and the staff are equally amazing. The overall purpose of this place is amazing, they just want to provide a nice place for the elephants to do more than survive but to live. They never will live as long as in the wild but they will certainly live more comfortably. We got to see an elephant paint for us, the handler demonstrated how they take care of their feet and other health issues. They explained the differences between Asian and African elephants and we all got to feed carrots to them. They have cottages and tree houses that you can spend the night in and an elephant will bring you breakfast! They've added gazebo like structures to provide shade over the years making the tour and talks more comfortable in the hot summer weather. It's worth doing again. read more

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Elephants close and touchable. Great friendly staff. Not a great gift shop and didn't see any food stand. Eat before or take a cooler. read more

Please see the video evidence of handlers abusing the elephants after hours. One says "make him scream" and the elephant does. They use hooks and hit them. Check that out before you give them your money. read more

OMG if you like Elephants this is more than worth a visit. Today was a open house for only a 10.00 entrance fee. You can pay extra if you want to bathe or feed . You can even have a t shirt sprayed by an elephant. They first have a area where the oldest ,Susie ,is where a lady will talk to the crowd. Then today they had 2 Elephants inside so you could scrub them down. Husband loved this experience for 20.00. Then you can walk or ride trolly to the rest of the grounds. There you can feed Elephants for 10.00. Blow up slide for the kids and down the way cabins you can rent for a night. If you go to the website they show special celebrations and the regular visits prices. We loved it and will put on our calendar atleat for the open house next year! read more

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What an experience that lasts about a hour. Little bit of history of the facility, care of the elephants, little art work. There is an auction of the art work that was demonstrated starting at $80 for the foot print. Cleaver way to raise a few extra dollars for the facility that runs off donations. Yes it was $50 a person and $25 for children under 13 years old. I may never get a chance to pet or feed an elephant again. read more

Endangered Ark Foundation - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me

The endangered ark foundation is something I will be talking about for a while! They take great care in sharing educational information about elephants, and how they are cared for while residing there. The best part was getting to go feed and pet the elephant! I can't wait to go back and visit again! Well worth the time and money to visit! read more

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I loved this experience. I had the opportunity to interact with elephants. I can tell from the reviews that there people are getting Endangered Ark Foundation mixed up with Oklahoma Awesome Adventures. They are down there road from one another and share the same land but they are quite different. This is about the public tour. They also offer expensive private tours but I loved the public tour. First they take you in the barn area behind the gift shop. In there they explain about elephant care, including ovulation and hooves. We got to see Asian elephant tusks and teeth. Then we got in a wagon and went down the hill and got to feed the elephants and take pictures. Never did I feel rushed. The gift shop was alright, but I'm not into Knick knacks or t-shirts or primitive art. My only complaint is we had a tight schedule and because some people were late we had to wait which messed up our schedule. We are advised to come 15 minutes early. If people are more than 10 minutes late they should have to wait until the next tour. Many of the reviews here apparently didn't take the tour, because if they had, they'd have realized that elephants, like dogs and horses and - need to use their brain, so many of the things that they trainers do is for brain stimulation. This isn't about a circus, this is about the elephants. In the two days I was there I saw genuine affection between the elephants and the trainers and employees. Also, as we listened we understood why they have to make money. An elephant eats a ball of hay a day. An elephant eats 40 lbs of fruits and veggies a day. They have to make money to take care of the elephants. That's expensive. read more

Endangered Ark Foundation - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me

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I was a little skeptical of this place at first. One entrance and one exit. The little office area had entertainment items (billiards, darts, corn hole, table tennis, foosball, etc) but all of the games were missing pieces. My wife and I were told that we could walk around, as long as we stayed on the paved trail. We walked towards what appeared to be the holding area for the elephants and we were asked to leave that area and told that we can't take pictures back there. Kinda sus but whatever, we left from that area and went back to our cabin. The cabin was really chill. No television (which is what my family needed). There were board games for us to play. Watching the Oklahoma Sunset is amazing and this is a great place to do it at. Once the sun went down, you could really see the stars! Also, there is a pool! Now the part about the elephants. I, personally, was a little disappointed that the elephants didn't get to hang out over night. There was a little holding area built near the cabins where it would've been awesome to see the elephants before bed and first thing in the morning. BUT, having the elephants bring us breakfast in the morning was pretty awesome and very memorable! Being able to touch and interact with with them is so awesome! You'll get to see their personalities almost instantly. I'm not going to act tough, I was nervous lol they are so huge and powerful and majestic. The handles seem to really care about the animals. Though, there are a few areas that could be perfected to make it a little cooler, overall this place was superb. Pro Tip: 1. If you live in a larger city, please go outside and enjoy the stars! 2. Watch for poison ivy, even in the designated areas. 3. Keep your eye open for other wildlife (deers, cool spiders, rabbits, etc) 4. Charge your phone. You're going to want to get this experience on camera. 5. If you have a dog, leash it. God forbid it runs into the fields or into what appeared to be an electric fence. 6. Go to city of Hugo for dinner. read more

Endangered Ark Foundation - Wildlife - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me

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For the longest time one of my biggest dreams was to be able to be up close to an elephant. Well, I just had one of my dreams come true yesterday!!! I was able to pet and feed three truly remarkable elephants named Becky, Tracy and Lisa. It's a wonderful thing that these magnificent creatures will never know the agony of being in a circus again. They're truly so well taken care of and living the good life now! The 16 elephants here are absolute stars!!!! The gift shop is clean, well organized and filled with beautiful art done by the elephants. The staff here are wonderful! Tom our guide is really top notch and SUPER funny!! Anything you want to know about elephants, they got answers! It was a very informative tour. I love elephants, and thought I knew it all. I learned so much on this tour though! All in all, I highly recommend taking the trip to Hugo to be able to have a mind blowing experience as this! read more

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Awesome. Best experience ever. Made a quick weekend trip from St. Louis and it was well worth the trip.

Wonderful place, well cared for animals, knowledgeable staff! Once in a lifetime opportunity to interact with Asian elephants

My husband arranged a "private tour" for my birthday. He also paid for the elephant bathing (extra $25), which is ONLY ALLOWED if you pay for the private tour. We went on a Wednesday for our tour. Although we had paid for the elephant bathing experience, the tour guides did not include that portion of our tour. My husband thought perhaps he had made an error in the reservation. The next morning (we stayed at the adjoining property and paid an additional fee for breakfast delivery by the elephants) we asked the employees about why we didn't receive our bathing experience. They said, "we forgot. We will credit your card." We asked if we could do it later that day. They said, "no, that is not possible." They did credit our card the $25 bathing experience fee within minutes. We purchased the private tour (cost was $500) , specifically for the reason that it is the ONLY WAY you can have the bathing experience. If we had known that we would be denied the bathing experience, we would have gone on the public tour (cost $100 for 2 people). We reached out to the director on 2 occasions to let her know of our concerns, but it is over 2 months later and we have had no response. Needless to say, although the tour was fun, we feel like we were swindled out of $400. Really disappointed in the lack of response by this business. They would have received that $400 ten times over in yearly donations if they had been honest or at least responded to our emails. read more

Outstanding experience for my entire family. We purchased a private tour as we had an elderly family member with a walker. This allowed us to go at our own pace, which was wonderful. Everyone was very helpful. We also stayed in one of the cabins and had a wonderful time walking the trails. Thank you for a life long dream come true. read more

I was really excited to go see some rescued elephants but the experience left me sad. Short review: This places uses bull-hooks on elephants, we watched one being used, elephants are exhibiting stressed behavior. Long review: When I was looking to book it only allows for parties of 5 which made me believe the tours would be with small groups, less stress for elephants but this is not true. When you drive up there you will see tons of old circus equipment and buildings, they are all on the same property. It looks really trashy and makes you wonder why its still there and why there's people occupying that area when these are rescued from the circus. The first elephants we saw was a mom and baby. Of course everyone was happy to see them and very excited. Very quickly several people saw the swaying behavior and then whispers of how thats not normal and is a sign of stress. Mom would pick up hay and put it in her mouth and spit it out. They brought in another elephant that they made blow paint on a shirt, and do a foot print which they auction off starting at $50. This is where I go really upset. One of the guys that was handling the elephant seemed very odd. He got behind the elephant and would poke her with the stick, thinking we couldn't see but everyone saw. I was about to lose it. He was constantly telling the elephant something every time she would any movement. At one point she put her trunk in her mouth and he aggressively pulled it out and said stop doing that! I have posted a pic of right before he did this. We took a ride through the area and saw some other elephants in the distance and they were also staying in one place and swaying so it wasn't just one elephant doing this, it was several. We got to feed a couple of elephants some bananas. If you are in a larger group you will only get to feed one. That was the best part of this whole thing is being next to a gentle giant and getting to look them in the eye. I was more interest in going to a place that condoned having elephants in circus environments. This place seems to be a partner of the circus to retire their elephants after the abuse has happened. I have a hard time trying to understand if the swaying is from current stress or prior stress and now bad habits. Either way my heart hurt especially seeing an elephant being "handled" with a tool that a lot of places see are cruel and unnecessary. I will say that the girl seemed knowledgable and seems to truly care for the elephants and developing a relationship with them. The conditions are not terrible and they are much better than some but I don't think this place is doing all it can. Would I spend money here again? No. read more

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I have been to Endangered Ark and took the private tour. We had an amazing and memorable time. Unforgettable really. So why the 1 star? I've been trying to book another tour for about a month now. I've called and left messages, sent an e-mail. I want to spend money here again and no one is calling me back to schedule this. Someone could call me and tell me that EAF is not doing tours currently or respond to an email at least. Very disappointed. read more

I cannot speak for other elephant lovers; however, I am extremely judgmental about the care elephants receive in a conservation setting, as well as zoos, etc. That being said, I have nothing but the best to say about the Endangered Ark Foundation's tour. They put on a great presentation at the beginning that even teaches the most avid elephant lovers something, this is right after you meet the newest addition to herd- a baby elephant. You get to see exactly what "elephant spa" means and get a little insight on how the elephants are taken care of. Then a small tractor ride takes you to the best part of the experience: ELFIE SELFIES! You can get up close to the elephants, feed them if you purchased treats at the beginning of the tour, and take pictures with them. They do take credit cards if you don't bring cash. You can buy little souvenirs to remember your trip but really...nothing will beat that selfie! There is not much walking, a few steps here or there when you get off the tractor ride, so you can leave those strollers in the car and enjoy the most exciting hour of your life! Also, don't forget to sign your name on the elephant paintings at the end of the tour. read more

The entire time I was there I just felt sad for these animals. I was expecting to see large habitat and at first all you see are elephants held individually in large steel cages. There were two babies with their respective mothers. But overall they were separate from each other in huge cages that looked to be 35-50 feet by 60 - 80 feet in size all dirt for the floor. The first thing I noticed upon entering was every elephant incessantly bobbing their heads or swaying back and forth. I immediately started googling what this meant. Several articles. In fact every article I found stated that this movement indicates distress in the animal. These are social animals and need to be around each other socially and they normally roam hundreds of miles to find food etc. well when kept apart and in confined areas they do this bobbing or swaying to stimulate themselves and because they are stressed. The article said that people will tell you that it's because they are excited or something to do with their heart rate and that it's BS. well someone asked right after that what the swaying was about and the tour guide immediately said both answers that the articles expected and were not true. The guild was very nice and informative. The actual caretakers seemed far less enthused. We paid an extra $20 to feed two elephants one carrot each. All in at this point $70 for myself, wife and child. Not bad really but in retrospect a little more than it was worth. Then On the ride up they stopped and tried to "auction" off a foot print of an elephant on poster board. VERY FRUSTRATING. We were held captive by the tour while this was happening and when someone finally bid $50 we got to moving toward the cars/ end of the tour. Upon leaving on the very corner a block away, we noticed all this circus equipment. I then asked my wife to do some investigation into it. The equipment is for Carson & Barnes circus which is still in operation today, and still Uses animals in their circus. The two founders of the endangered ark D.R. And Isla Miller are the founders and co owners of that circus and many other circuses. Let me be clear here: The Carson and Barnes circus OWNS the endangered ark foundation. And if everyone that was on our one hour tour spent what we spent. I estimate that approximately $1,000 was generated from or your not including merchandise purchased. I will say it was nice seeing elephants. And our son liked it. But it honestly felt deceptive and gross and I wish I didn't support it. I WISH somebody had posted a review with this info before we drove 4 hours and spent nearly $100 on this what appears to be a retirement home for spent circus elephants and their unfortunate babies. While they continue to use elephants in archaic fashion in their circus. Not ok to me. read more

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I heard about Endangered Ark YEARS ago and I wanted to visit but didn't take the time until yesterday (07 Sep). My good friend and I were so excited to see the caring of the elephants. We were not disappointed. From the time we arrived to the time we left, we were greeted by staff with smiles on their faces and waving as we rode by on the tractor-pulled cart. Our tour guide was entertaining and informative. She shared tidbits of Asian elephants all the while gently caring, guiding and rewarding one of the elephants. Our tour group consisted of 10 people, it was perfect! We were able to feed two elephants from outside an enforced fence in a large wooded area. We were the winning bidders of the elephant footprint and have no regrets contributing the money. These animals look healthy, they are clean. Reading a previous post, we did not see any of the animals swaying and bobbing their heads. They all appeared curious and welcoming but we were not allowed to approach them. I feel certain some of these animals have suffered at the hands of previous trainers and handlers but Endangered Ark is caring for them and educating the general public. This organization is attempting to save the species. They attempt to provide a natural habitat for the animals but elephants' real natural habitat exposes them to poachers. I will revisit, promote and continue to support Endangered Ark in their efforts. Thank you to our guide, thank you to our tour group for such a great experience! read more

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This was an early birthday present for me from my best friend...words cannot describe this wonderful experience. From our arrival time the very end all staff was incredibly professional, knowledgeable, gentle to the animals, and passionate about their work along with being very friendly towards us. We booked the private tour with bathing and feeding options and it was worth every penny! We got to bathe, hug, feed and kiss the ellies, they took several pictures with our phones for us, we were given a unique elephant footprint, watched them make a t-shirt and had the option to purchase, learned lots of wonderful facts, saw the grounds, and we never felt rushed. If ever given the opportunity I will return! read more

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I had a great time learning about and getting to see elephants up close. The elephants are retired circus elephants and they have plenty of land and they get daily baths and monthly pedicures. Staff is passionate and dedicate their lives to these elephants. It costs $20 for a 2 hour tour and the experience they provide is priceless! Well worth visiting! If you aren't particularly crazy about elephants when you arrive, you will be when you leave! read more

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I visited Endangered Ark and observed that despite having over 200 acres, most of the 11 elephants at the facility were being kept in confined corrals, some with very little shade on a hot day. I observed that elephants in corrals were standing in place and swaying back and forth, which is a known sign of elephant stress. I observed a mother elephant standing protectively over her calf, while she engaged in pretend eating (lowering trunk to ground repeatedly and picking up hay, lifting it to her mouth, but not eating), which is also a known sign of stress/nervousness in elephants. I observed one of the keepers using a bull hook to prod an elephant to lift its foot up onto a platform for the pedicure demonstration and to prod it to paint a t-shirt and do foot print paintings to be sold. I observed another keeper walking down the road using a bull hook to keep an elephant next to him in line. We learned in the informational talk that Endangered Ark breeds their elephants and has sent some babies to zoos, which means separating them from their mothers. In the wild, elephants are very social creatures and spend their entire lives in familial herds. I also learned that the owners of Endangered Ark also own the Carson & Barnes traveling circus immediately next to their property. When I got home, I did further research and found pictures of the Carson & Barnes circus elephants being forced to do unnatural tricks while a ringmaster is standing next to them with an electric shock prod. I also found video on YouTube of a Carson & Barnes trainer horribly abusing elephants with an electric prod and a bullhook while they screamed in pain. My opinion is that Endangered Ark is not a sanctuary, but rather a side business that supports the Carson & Barnes Circus. The elephants at Endangered Ark have not been rescued from circus life, they were just moved next door where they are still being exploited for tourist trade. I will not be going back. read more

This is an awesome experience for anyone from a toddler to 100. There is no impediment to anyone to see this in a comfortable way The only walking is about 100 feet from your car to the barn that is like an amphitheater. The tour guide gives a brief history. Then from there on everything is hands on and you can touch and clean large elephants. If you are a real animal enthusiast, this is the place to go. You can touch and visit elephants from the biggest to the baby with it's mamma. They have an elephant that paints foot prints and sprays paint out of his nostrils on t-shirts and you can buy the t-shirts. They have a great also have stepping stones painted by the elephants. They have a great gift shop. You take a ride in a wagon pulled by a tractor. There are hundreds of seats. You take this on a tour of the elephant habitat. You can feed the elephants and pet them. Multiple photo ops! The elephants are well taken care of. There produce is perfect and organic, better than what we eat. I can't believe that this isn't the premier tourist attraction. read more

I booked a private tour for last Sunday morning for my daughter, 2 granddaughters, my sister and myself. Our drive was approximately 840 miles roundtrip and worth every minute and mile! The tour was beyond wonderful! Our tour guide was a young lady named Addy and I couldn't tell who loved who more-Addy or the elephants! (We even got to see a little camel who was being babysat by the EAF while its family was away.) None of us ever saw any of the negative behaviors/treatments described by some other reviewers. This is a "must-do" experience for all! read more