Over this past weekend, following the adventure that was my return trip to the San Diego Zoo. I decided to stop by an open-house event that celebrated the reopening of the Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge. Therefore, my visit coincided with this event on July 12th, 2025, which marked the first and (probably) only time that I paid a visit since it reopened to the public earlier that week.
While the following facility is first and foremost, a wildlife rehabilitation center. They do offer a small, zoo-like portion known as the “Wildlife Walk” (the focus of this species list), which displays non-releasable native species, alongside a few exotics and some goats. Prior to entry, the cost to enter this portion of the facility costs $10 USD per person; and shouldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes to walk around its entirety (for reference, I went through this layout twice in total).
Since this will only consist of an up-to-date species list, don’t expect too much as far as a full-on review is concerned. With that being said, here's how the non-releasable collection still holds up: Zootierliste users, please take note.
Once visitors reach the two fox enclosures (1 per species), the route takes you back down the same single pathway back towards the entry gate; all while passing by the same species from before; which from there, concludes this species list.
Mammals > 8 (1 unseen)
Birds > 6
Reptiles > 5 (2 unseen)
There are no fish, amphibians, and invertebrates present in their non-releasable collection.
Grand Total > 19 (18 excluding the domestic goats)
Species signed, but not seen are in grey.
While the following facility is first and foremost, a wildlife rehabilitation center. They do offer a small, zoo-like portion known as the “Wildlife Walk” (the focus of this species list), which displays non-releasable native species, alongside a few exotics and some goats. Prior to entry, the cost to enter this portion of the facility costs $10 USD per person; and shouldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes to walk around its entirety (for reference, I went through this layout twice in total).
Since this will only consist of an up-to-date species list, don’t expect too much as far as a full-on review is concerned. With that being said, here's how the non-releasable collection still holds up: Zootierliste users, please take note.
- Empty
- Eastern Grey Squirrel / Sciurus carolinensis (2x)
- Empty
- Black-Tailed Prairie Dog / Cynomys ludovicianus
- Ring-Tailed Lemur / Lemur catta
- Gopher Tortoise / Gopherus polyphemus
- Sulcata Tortoise / Centrochelys sulcata - labeled as “African Spurred Tortoise”
- Eastern Box Turtle / Terrapene carolina carolina
- Russian Tortoise / Testudo horsfieldii + Gopher Tortoise / Gopherus polyphemus
- Virginia Opossum / Didelphis virginiana
- Emu / Dromaius novaehollandiae
- Green Iguana / Iguana iguana
- Eastern Screech Owl / Megascops asio
- Domestic Goat / Capra hircus - labeled as “Boer Goat / Capra aegagrus hircus”
- (American) Black Vulture / Coragyps atratus
- Turkey Vulture / Cathartes aura
- Empty
- Barred Owl / Strix varia
- Great Horned Owl / Bubo virginianus ssp.
- Eastern Bobcat / Lynx rufus rufus - labeled as “Florida Bobcat / Lynx rufus”
- American Red Fox / Vulpes vulpes fulva - labeled as “Red Fox / Vulpes vulpes”
- Grey Fox / Urocyon cinereoargenteus ssp.
Once visitors reach the two fox enclosures (1 per species), the route takes you back down the same single pathway back towards the entry gate; all while passing by the same species from before; which from there, concludes this species list.
Mammals > 8 (1 unseen)
Birds > 6
Reptiles > 5 (2 unseen)
There are no fish, amphibians, and invertebrates present in their non-releasable collection.
Grand Total > 19 (18 excluding the domestic goats)
Species signed, but not seen are in grey.