About
Location :
Added by Jopie, at 15 April 2017
Opening Hours
- Monday Closed
- Tuesday Closed
- Wednesday 6:00 – 8:00 PM
- Thursday 1:00 – 4:00 PM
- Friday 6:00 – 8:00 PM
- Saturday 6:00 – 8:00 PM
- Sunday Closed
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14 Reviews
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27 December 2017
Best kept secret in NE Florida. This makes for a great weekend evening outing with or without kids. Impressive animals. Check their feeding schedule online; you don't want to miss seeing that.
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23 December 2017
Went to the Catty Shack during feeding time and it's amazing to watch these big cats feed! The interaction with the volunteer staff is fascinating and these big cats are exceptionally well maintained and loved. I have never seen so many Tigers in my life, there are probably 30-40 along with two Lions, Panthers, and smaller cats like Leopards. Definitely a great place for kids and grown ups alike. Wear comfortable shoes, and prepare for mild walking. Recommend!
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27 November 2017
Knowing that The Catty Shack is a large cat sanctuary in Jacksonville, we prepared for our excursion as we would a trip to the zoo. This is not a zoo.
The Catty Shack offers 3 ways to experience their sanctuary - 1. Guided Daytime Tour, 2. Enrichment Tour, 3. Nighttime Feeding. This visit we enjoyed the Guided Daytime Tour.
Tours start at regular intervals or when there's a large group. Tours are led by volunteer tour guides who also volunteer to work with the cats. It is a walking tour on mostly flat, even, hard- packed sand or cement with regular benches available along the way. The tour lasts a little over an hour. You are close enough to the tigers to get marked by their spray (apparently, it smells like buttered popcorn). Tour guides are knowledgeable, informative, and personable. Tours are adapted for the audience within a structured speech. All of our questions were thoroughly answered. A picnic pavilion, air-conditioned porta potties, and gift shop are available at the entrance. It is dusty. It is mostly shaded. Wear bug spray; bring an umbrella. Kids under 5 will probably roll in the dusty sand, make sand angels, and snap back into rapturous wide-eyed adoration when the lions ROAR.
Impressive, informative, entertaining, and easy on our budget. We'll be back!response / report this review -
26 November 2017
The animals were so big and beautiful, I was surprised by how well they were taken care of, they were very active and present for the guest to see. The thing that annoyed me the most was during the entire tour they kept preaching not to taunt the animals but while feeding them they did that same exact thing. Making the tiger act up for food, putting chicken in their face then pulling it away, It was pure ignorance. The director was inside the cage feeding them, He was way to comferable and super cocky about it. It wouldn’t surprise me if a “accident” happened to him in the future. He was teasing every single tiger with food. I understand they want to put on a show for the guest but I think there are other ways to do so. I would recommend taking the last tour of the night, otherwise you will be standing around till 7:30 when they do the feedings. The cages aren’t lit well so it’s kind of hard to get a food picture.
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20 October 2017
This is a great little Sanctuary for large cats and other animals. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. The animals are well taken care of. This is a great place to bring kids to have them experience animals in a controlled environment. Also a great place for large groups. This place is a sanctuary that runs off of your donations, so please don't skip. These people do a great job volunteering their time and effort keeping these animals safe.
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28 September 2017
We went to a night feeding. It was pretty crowded. The pens' ground were pretty worn down so a lot of the tigers were lying in mud/dirt. I hope they can upgrade the pens soon but the owner was cool and the tigers seemed pretty affectionate towards him.
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02 September 2017
There is not much more I can say other than this is a "must go if you're in Jacksonville" comment. They have a tiny gift shop with reasonable prices for stuffed animals and various souvenirs. They have a snack truck that sells sodas and water for only $1 as well as snow cones and various other things. Hot dogs maybe? I'm not positive on that. Best time to go is their weekly night feedings which (at the time of this writing) is on Fridays. You'll first get a tour then they'll end the evening with the feedings. We got there at about 6:30. They start new tours periodically and we missed the first few minutes, but we could have started over with another tour to get what we missed. Everyone there is very kind and knowledgeable. Be sure to donate a little extra though. 400 lbs of food every day is quite a bill.
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02 September 2017
Completely different experience than going to the zoo! Is a dirt/grass field it can be navigated in a wheelchair. If is to hard or you can't walk long distances they offer a gulf cart that takes you around through the facility. Staff is really friendly.
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31 July 2017
An absolutely wonderful experience. We come every time we're in the Jacksonville area because we are just fascinated by the whole operation. The animals are fascinating to watch! We've come on both a day tour and a night feeding. The day tour was great, but it was in the 90s so most of the cats were sleeping through the heat. However, at the night feeding, they were up and at attention! Very crowded for the night feedings, especially on the weekends. But that doesn't bother me at all because it means more and more people are helping support this wonderful organization!
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06 July 2017
Beautiful big cats! We had so much fun learning about tigers, lions, pumas and other wild cats. Breathtaking. Definitely recommend the night feeding tour. You really get to see them as the wild animals they are. Five stars is not enough.
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04 July 2017
"This is the more intimate and interactive Jacksonville zoo! The owners are great and you should definitely go for the live feedings. Very well kept landscape and a ton of animals!" - Ansel Ponce Diama
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20 June 2017
The experience was really cool and it is so amazing that there is a place that takes care of these animals. We went on an Enrichment day and it was fun but takes lots of time. It was too hot for our little one so we didn't get to see all the enrichments. Would love to go on a feeding tour.
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19 June 2017
Great place. The tour was from 1-2 so it was very hot. The cats were mostly asleep but some came out for a visit. Dirt paths, so wear sneakers. The animals seem well loved and cared for. The tour guide was ok not much of a people person, we kind of mingled and did our own thing. The man who runs it (I believe) was very friendly and sweet to the cats. We plan to go back for a night feeding tour.
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22 April 2017
This place is great for families or small groups! The volunteers are nice and very helpful. They give you a tour and spend a lot of time telling you about the animals which is great. We took our entire 3rd grade (5 classes), which is not a good idea The tour works better with groups less than 20, and through no fault of Catty Shack, our kids did not stay engaged. There were too many of us. I would recommend going with a small group or family, and check out the website for special events!
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