Arbuckle Wilderness Arbuckle Wilderness

[jbnbsn99]

I just revisited AW today for the first time in about four years. It is a travesty of what it was when I first visited some years ago. The collection has been gutted.

Here is a complete list of all species seen on the drive-through.

Birds

• Emu
• Ostrich

Domestics

• Donkey
• Dromedary
• Llama/Alpaca
• Yak
• Highland Cattle
• Water Buffalo
• Jacobs Sheep

Exotics

• Giraffe (1)
• White Rhino (1)
• Common Eland
• Bison
• Scimitar-Horned Oryx (2)
• P. Horse (2)
• Grant's Zebra (2)
• Nilgai (1)
• Pere David's Deer
• White Tiger

In looking at the past species list, the collection has lost

• Eastern White-Bearded Wildebeest
• Axis Deer
• Kulan
• Grevy's Zebra
• Hartmann's Zebra
• Sable Antelope
• Bongo
• Aoudad
• Bactrian Camel
• Wolf
• Warthog
• Bearded Pig
• Walaroo
• Swamp Walaby
• Cusimanse
• Capybara

Clearly, this place is struggling to stay open. I don't foresee it lasting another 5 years at this rate.

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks for the update. Wow, the collection truly has been gutted. I wonder where all of the exotics have ended up? The website has flashing photos of animals that includes Rhea, Striped Hyena, Ring-Tailed Lemur, African Crested Porcupine, Red Kangaroo, Markhor, Aoudad, Blackbuck, Axis Deer, Addax, etc. False advertising? It seems as if the facility might be on its last legs. What was the Reptile House like?

 

[jbnbsn99]

There was a single red kangaroo in a corncrib cage. The hyenas might have been there, but the exhibit was so overgrown no one could tell. There were two lone lemurs in a corncrib. The reptile house was almost void of animals. A few lizards and a tortoise or two was all there.