My daughter and I recently visited Red Wolf Sanctuary and saw wolves, foxes, bobcats, a bear, owls, hawks, bald eagles, and more. It is a great place and worth the visit. Make sure you bring water because the tour is more than an hour.
Red Wolf Sanctuary is located about an hour from Cinncinati, Ohio in a small town named Rising Sun, Indiana. It’s a beautiful area, and the town of Rising Sun sits beautifully on the Ohio River. It’s pure small town America.
My first impressions of Red Wolf Sanctuary were positive. While it is easy to find on google maps, I wasn’t exactly sure where to park and where to go to find the tour. I dialed the phone number, and since I was already parked at the big concrete building with the wolf painted on the side, I could stay there, and then walk up the hill, or I could drive to the top and park there.
Upon walking up to the top, we were greeted by an older gentleman, who was jolly and humorous. He made small talk with us and helped us and another couple feel welcome. He then introduced the volunteer, Phoenix, who would be guiding us on the tour. We hopped into a large UTV and set off.
Our first stop was where we parked, at the large concrete structure with the wolf on the side named the “Bear Barn”. The bear barn has a few enclosures, most of which were empty. I am going to use the word “enclosure” instead of “cage” because “enclosure” is a more neutral word, and “cage” is a bit negative. I had a very positive experience at Red Wolf, and my impression is that they are doing a good job, so I think “enclosure” fits better.
On a related note, as we walked into the Bear Barn, I didn’t notice any foul or terrible smells of poop or urine or other gross things. The smell was very neutral, which is a really good sign.
The first critter we visited was a beaver. The beaver looked in good health and curiously came right up to the wire door and put its paws on the door. It was so cute and friendly, and Phoenix mentioned that beavers are very social. The beaver kind of stole my heart at that moment.
I could have spent more time with Mr. Beaver, but alas, we had to move on. The bear barn is named as such because, you guessed it, there’s a black bear named “Mommy”. Apparently, Mommy was found in an apartment complex and rescued. Mommy also seemed in good health, but completely ignored us because she was eating. I’m not offended!
Those were the only two animals in the bear barn, so we got back in the UTV and drove to the bobcats. There was a lot of getting in and out of the UTV, so if you have mobility issues, you might want to think about that.
There were two bobcats, and since it was almost feeding time, they were active and present. I believe they have been conditioned that when a UTV pulls up, that means food and treats. Bobcats are called bobcats because their little tails look like little ‘bobs’. They can jump very high and are excellent climbers, so their enclosures need roofs.
The bobcats also seemed in good health and spirits. They were meowing softly and pacing most of the time. Phoenix got one of them to jump up and hang on the side of the enclosure by dangling a set of keys.
After the bobcats, we got back into the UTV and saw the foxes. At this point, we were hit with the smell of urine, which isn’t unusual with foxes. I have heard that foxes have a very strong urine smell, and the smell was not overpowering.
The foxes were very active, running around and playing with each other. Some were social and curious, and others hid. They barked a lot. Phoenix said a couple of the foxes had been rescued from a frat house. While foxes seem like they would be a cute and cuddly pet similar to a dog, Phoenix said they chew on everything and tear everything up. They are also very good diggers.
The foxes were cute, and there were a lot of them. We didn’t get super close to the foxes though. It was a really hot day (90 degrees), and we were in the sun most of the time. Make sure to bring water with you because the tour was more than an hour, and there isn’t much shade.
Across the gravel road from the fox enclosures were the wolf enclosures. The wolf enclosures are 2 acres, and they are paired up with a mate. We saw 2-3 different sets of wolves. It was funny because it seems like for each set of wolves, one of the wolves was social, and the other was more guarded. I thought that’s how it is with people, too.
It was interesting to hear about the animal’s personalities. Phoenix did a good job of talking about each wolf as an individual, i.e. this wolf is social, or this wolf is dominant. It’s really interesting to observe their behavior and watch them.
The wolves also looked in good shape. Again, it was right before feeding time, and so the animals perhaps thought the sound of the UTV meant lunch. So most of them came to check us out, but some didn’t as well.
Across from the wolves, on the same side as the foxes were the coyote enclosures. Phoenix said that there aren’t really pure coyotes anymore. Due to cross breeding, they are now considered “coydogs”. The coydogs seemed happy and healthy.
We then drove a bit down the road, past more wolf enclosures to the raptors.
The sanctuary also has a prairie dog enclosure. They received what they thought were a couple of male prairie dogs. But they inherited a female, which as pregnant. So all of a sudden, they had a village of prairie dogs, and currently, they have no idea how many there are, lol!
So right next to the prairie dogs are the bald eagles, and just past that are the other raptors, like hawks, owls, and vultures. I thought it was a bit unfortunate and torturous (and a bit funny) that they put the prairie dogs right next to the birds of prey. Don’t get me wrong, the prairie dogs are 100% safe, but I imagine the prairie dogs could get scared being right next to the birds of prey. If the birds call out or something. Maybe it just so happened that the enclosures came to be where they are.
There were probably more than a dozen birds or prey. There were two bald eagles, a bard owl, a red-tailed hawk, a screech owl, vultures, and a few more birds.
There were a few turkey and black vultures. Phoenix told us a story that they had received a black vulture that was injured, and so they put her in the enclosure. Then they noticed another black vulture hanging around outside of the enclosure constantly. It turned out to be her mate, and he wanted to be in the enclosure with her. So the were able to get a permit to take him into the enclosure.
So then, at some point, they received an egg from a turkey vulture that needed to be raised. So they gave the egg to the black vultures. The black vulture couple raised the chick, and the bird was allowed to be free. But the now adult bird is free, but just hangs out back at the enclosure (albeit on the outside) with its parents. I thought that was so cute and sweet.
After looking at the birds or prey, we drove back to the main building. We did stop along the way because of couple of wolves came down to visit us. We also stopped at the coyotes again, and Phoenix got them to call. It was really cool!
We then made it back to the building and finally out of the sun. We paid ($20 per adult, $10 per teenage), and there was a very, very small gift shop. They had some cute stuff.
Overall, the visit was a lot of fun. The animals seemed social, healthy, and in good shape. If you are within an hour or two of the area and are an animal lover, you should definitely check it out!