Wildlife Learning Center
DETAILS:
Location: 16027 Yarnell Street, Sylmar, CA 91342
Hours of Operation:
General Admission: Weekly; 10AM to 5PM
Individual Animal Experiences: Available daily on first-come-first-serve basis. (Please see their website listed below under “resources” for more details)
Zoo Keeper for a Day Experience: 9AM to 1PM, based on availability of biologists and must be booked 2 weeks in advance by phone. (818-362-8711)
Zoofari Tour & Zoofari Tour for large groups: Details provided on their website. Please call for availability and booking (818-362-8711)
Parking: Free Parking lot available. Street parking available as well. Please observe any posted street signs.
Cost:
General Admission: $12 Adults / $10 Children (15 and younger), Seniors, Veterans & Teachers / Children 2 & younger are free.
Individual Animal Experiences: Please see website listed below under “resources” for details on pricing for each animal.
Zoo Keeper for a Day Experience: $200 for one person. $350 per couple. Max group size is 2 people.
Zoofari Tour (90 minutes): $300 For group of 4. ($50 for each additional participant, maximum of 6 people)
Zoofari Tour for large groups (1 hour): $250 For Up To 10 Participants / $300 For Up To 15 Participants
Time Commitment: 1-2 hours depending on which add-ons you chose to experience.
Miscellaneous: At the time of this blog, the Wildlife Learning Center does not have online booking capabilities. No reservations are needed for general admission, but please call to book any other animal experience. (818-362-8711)
For Individual Animal Experiences:
Please call the morning of your visit, as some animals may be at a school outreach lesson.
General admission fee still applies.
Age restrictions may apply to certain animal experiences.
Each individual animal experience is approximately 10 minutes.
The best way to gain a real appreciation for anything is to experience it firsthand. That’s exactly what they want you to do at the Wildlife Learning Center, literally. Established in 1993, their continuing goal is to provide public education and awareness to the various animal species from all over the world that call the center home, all of which are either displaced or rescued and can never be reintroduced to the wild.
The center isn’t much more than an acre large and is tucked off the street under the coverage of a former olive grove, so it’s definitely one of those hidden gems that you hardly realize is there until you realize it’s there. But because of this, you really do get a sense of intimacy within the center and it happily reduces the foot traffic you’ll encounter unlike the gridlock found at the LA Zoo. And while you’re welcome to stroll passed the enclosures like a traditional zoo with general admission, the real benefit of visiting the Wildlife Learning Center is to get up close & personal with these animals in order to learn about them directly with a trained staffer.
You can interact with any of that day’s available animals a la carte, but we opted for the Zoofari tour since it made the most economical sense factoring our group size and the animals we wanted to see. I can’t convey enough what an amazing experience it was to enter the various enclosures of the animals we got to interact with while being informed about their lives and backstory from our guide. Hold a Twany owl? Check. Feed the cutest porcupines in the world? Check. Pet a 2-toed sloth? Check. Dare to go face to face with a Serval Wildcat (under the watchful eye of a friendly neighborhood giraffe)? Barely, but check. In addition to these personal experiences, we were also given private demonstrations of several other animals housed at the center like a Fennec Fox, a hedge hog, an American Bald Eagle, and several snakes and lizards in the reptile habitat. And the best part of all? Our admission fee (along with all the other activities and experiences that the center offers) contributes to the care of these animals and the upkeep of the center. Now that’s what I call a win-win.
RESOURCES:
Wildlife Learning Center website.
