The Wildpark
Where can you find a peacock on a playground? This one was in the Wildpark Animal Sanctuary (https://www.wildpark-poing.de/) just outside of Munich, Germany. This park is impressive. We've all been to petting zoos before, but chances are good you haven't been to one like this. Many of the animals freely roam the trails that wind through the park making for an unforgettable experience. Here's just a few of my favorites.
Little Deer
Whether these little guys are deer, antelope, or something in between I can't tell, but they sure are cute. While some of them stay far away in green fields along the path, many of them like to interact with visitors and eagerly search you for food.
As you can see, these deer aren't shy. They mob visitors as they pass by, and sometimes even charge at them. Don't worry though, it's just because they are anxious to eat food from your hand.
The Wolf Pack
While it's completely fine to feed the deer, this sign makes sure that you know it's verboten to feed the wolves. On the day we were visiting, the wolves were pretty sleepy.
They didn't seem to want to welcome visitors, but I managed to get a quick shot of these two playing King of the Hill. The enclosure for the wolves was extensive, but there were ruts in the ground from where they regularly paced, probably trying to figure out how they can get to those tasty little deer.
The Birds
Many of the birds at the Wildpark were also allowed to roam freely. This one seemed to have his own little niche all carved out for him. I love the purple cast to his feathers, and it seems as if he does too with the way he's searching for his reflection in the murky pond.
While there were many owls here, this one really loved posing for the camera.
How long did it take you to find the owl in this photo? ;-)
Goats!!
These goats were really hamming it up for the camera. While most of the critters here only came near visitors who had food in hand, the goats were the exception.
This little goat came over looking for food but got petted instead. He must have liked it, because when I stood up to leave, he stood up on the fence rail and bleated at me! I resumed the petting at once.
Raccoons
Raccoons may have a bad reputation, but these masked bandits were little cuties. They were the friendliest raccoons ever!
As we watched the coons, one of them strolled all the way around the enclosure, came right up to the fence and stuck his little paw through. Matthew knelt down and shook his hand. The raccoon, satisfied, finished with his perimeter check and went back to laying in the shade.
More Birds
These swans (geese?) really stole the show. Their dark plumage made them stand out from the rest of the brown and white birds swimming in the pond.
The Wildpark also featured many bird of prey, including hawks, falcons, and eagles. This vulture was the most photogenic on the day of our visit as he is used to the extremely hot weather. The rest of the large birds were all hanging out in the shade trying to stay cool.
Bear Drama
These bears sure were being dramatic during our visit. The two bears to the left had only moment earlier been in a little tiff - presumably over the lady bear to the right. By this point, they seem to have cooled down, and it looks like one bear is trying to get back in her good graces.
The above photo is during the bear standoff. I'm just glad they came to a peaceful resolution. It was a lovely day at Wildpark Poing and it would have been tarnished had there been bloodshed.
Thanks so much for joining us in the Wildpark. To book your own wild adventure, find me at http://travellifeservicesllc.com/
Happy Travels
Jennifer
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Animation By @zord189
As always, all pics are taken by me and used with my permission. I even wrote the words all by myself. :-)
Jennifer....omggggg!!!!! I can't even tell you how much I loved this post. Wait a minute...yes I can. I am not ashamed to admit that I loved this post and the wildlife in it so much that I actually cried a few happy tears. Maybe that's cheesey, but to me it's pretty sweet that it had such an effect ;) Especially that raccoon, he really got me right in the heart. Thank you for sharing the awesomeness <333
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Awww, that's awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. That little raccoon was a heart-breaker that's for sure. <3
I love going to see animals like this, but always saddens me that they are enclosed. My heart goes out the places that have these parks to help rehabilitate the animals.
Great pictures. I think I would have stayed longer with the wolves. Such beautiful creatures they are.
Thank you! Yes, I would have liked to have spent more time with the wolves, but they were being shy that day. I did sit quietly and wait for them on a bench near the enclosure for about 30 minutes...but they remained mostly out of sight. The two on the hilltop were the only wolves I spotted, and even they didn't stay out for very long.
Ya you were there for quite a bit. I watched a small documentary somewhere, where they put a few wolves back into the wild in Yellowstone and how the wolves helped out nature become more balanced. Have you seen that? Totally worth checking out. It is beautiful actually.
I think I saw it a while back. I love Yellowstone. I was there several years ago and saw their Bear and Wolf Preserve in the adjacent city of West Yellowstone. It was neat....but I felt sooooooo bad for the wolves. It must be awful to live in a cage with all that natural beauty and wilderness nearby. I wonder if those were the wolves they reintroduced to the park.
It is so hard to see. Hopefully they are the ones they let go :)
Now this is what I am talking about. Where animals could roam free and they have enough space to move around. I hate seeing places where animals looks so un happy which is very depressing. The bears looks so satisfied although with a little conflict they are being bears as they should be.
Yes!!! The bears were free to be dramatic! Many places I think would have just separated them so these natural dramas weren't allowed to play out.
I heard about this wildpark but never made it there. I'm not a big fan of such places but these animals look healthy and happy :)
I love the second photo. They are so curious! :)
They definitely seemed to be both happy and healthy. That's one of the things that made this park so nice. The only creatures I felt were not being treated well were the wolves and the big cats. They need tons of space to roam, and while they had a nice sized enclosure, it simply wasn't enough for these wandering creatures.
It's beautiful park! The blue shade of the peacock seems nice. :3 I've never really seen peacocks before. XD
Thank you! Peacocks are really neat animals in person. They are territorial so they make great guard animals, and they are really, really, really loud too. Their cry sounds like a woman screaming! The females aren't nearly as colorful, so you rarely see them in photos, but they are neat too.
What a great looking place to spend some time. The peacock was gorgeous and I always love hanging out with goats!
Thanks for commenting. Goats are a strange species, but it's wonderful when you find the affectionate ones. There were others that were content to mean mug me from off in the distance. They were too cool for petting. 😀
This place is definitely a WILDpark! Thanks for sharing and I know if I'm ever outside of Munich, Germany it's worth a stop! Thanks for sharing & have a nice weekend.
Thanks for commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed the post. 😀
I did thanks!
They're so adorable especially the deer and the bear.
The bear were so animated. It was if they were living in a soap opera. :-)
it's a long time since i was in zoo)) thanks for your photos!
Thanks for stopping by to check them out. I hadn't been to a zoo in ages myself, but now I'm thinking I'll have to go a little more regularly.
Zoo....a good place to check out animals. Are the animals in their enclosures? Or it is a open wildlife sanctuary?
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Many of the animals were allowed to freely roam the park. Deer, goats, ducks, geese, and other birds had the run of the land for the most part. The way the hoofed animal enclosures were, it looked like they could selectively open the gates to allow certain animals to roam while others were stuck in place.
The more dangerous animals - bear, lynx, wolves - and the tiny critters - rabbits, ferrets and the like - were stuck in enclosures.
I don't think they let all the animals out at the same time, so it's possible that on different days they might let the pigs out or maybe the buffalo. I only saw deer-type critters and birds running freely.
wow @mattifer this is simply beautiful!
In the second picture it looks as if they were posing for the camera :)
You have no idea how much I would love to visit a place like this one!
Thanks for sharing!
I think they are all over Germany. I've never seen one quite like it in the States though. If I find one here, I'll certainly let you know.
The photo of the deer is amazing! And I've actually never been to this park, but parks alike in Germany. I don't really like that animals are kept like that just so people can look at them. Aren't the national parks in the states better in that way? As far as I know they roam freely, so it's a fun (or scary) surprise to see them.
I'm torn on the issue of zoos. One the one hand I think it's awful to take a creature from the wild and put him in a cage for his entire life. I think most of the animals would choose to run free if given the option.
On the other hand, it's a pretty good life for many of these creatures. They are cared for and fed and safe from poachers and natural predators. Some of them don't have much of a natural habitat left in the wild, so need someplace to be.
This particular park did a nice job of providing plenty of space for the critters, with the exception of the wolves and big cats. Those guys need 50+ square miles to roam in the wild, and they certainly didn't have that in the Wildpark.
As for the national parks in the States, yes, the animals are wild and roam freely, but that also means they get hit by cars, shot by humans sometimes, and typically are rarely seen by visitors. Yellowstone National Park is a big exception to this. Herds of buffalo are frequently seen hanging out near and in the road. Traffic stops and waits for them to cross. It's pretty neat actually. But the wolves and bears that once lived in the area are being slowly squeezed out due to human encroachment.
I think that zoos which focus on providing healthy habitats for the animals and don't source them from the wild are probably ok. Some zoos accept animals that would not be able to survive in the wild due to injury or abandonment. I think that's a good thing. But zoos that are paying money for wild-caught creatures just to profit from them and are fitting in as many as they possibly can are not so ok in my book.
That's true, some zoos keep animals that are just away from extinction and stop that process.
I've been to Yellowstone, so maybe that's where I got that idea :)
That makes sense. Yellowstone is probably the only park where you can consistently see animals 'interacting' with the tourists. I've been to bunches of National Parks here, and it's just not very common elsewhere.
Very nice pictures. I like the idea of a wild park, never seen one before. 😊
Thank you! It was quite similar to a petting zoo, but much larger and more wild feeling.
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They are all beautiful!
I think they know it too! :-D
Haha... maybe...
Wow this is a pretty awesome wildlife sanctuary! I love these ones that allow the animals to roam free! We have a bird park here in Malaysia that is something like this. All the birds are walking everywhere. Thanks for sharing all about this park!
I'd love to see pics of the bird park. :-)
Thanks for stopping by. :-)