Wildlife Encounters Ecology & Wellness Center

Wildlife Encounters Ecology & Wellness Center Family-operated educational organization operating a USDA licensed sanctuary for non-releasable ambassador animals since 2004.
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Offering educational presentations featuring live animals year round. No “open admission” hours or general public visitation. What is the Wildlife Encounters Ecology & Wellness Center? Originally founded in 2004, our organization early-on focused mostly on community education (especially in-school curriculum enrichment) achieved through delivery of live-animal presentations: our Wildlife Encounte

rs® shows! Programs and classes delivered by highly skilled & passionate educators and presenters did, and still do feature a wide variety of non-releasable wildlife that live with us because they were:
- Injured in the wild and not able to survive independently
- exploited by the illegal trade in wildlife and placed with us by authorities
- abandoned, abused, neglected or otherwise surrendered former pets
- captive-bred in a US-based protected environment to participate in public education & species/biodiversity conservation efforts. Today, the Wildlife Encounters Ecology & Wellness Center today is a private nature-based educational entity that has grown and developed to manage a 77 acre nature preserve in Barrington, NH and a USDA licensed dependent-wildlife sanctuary in Rochester. We aim to improve globally-oriented environmental literacy, awareness & engagement among children, members of our community and visitors to the region. We offer on-site programming, events, trails and more at the Barrington location, private guided Sanctuary Tours, and a Membership Program as well as our extremely popular Community Outreach live-animal presentations. We are stewards of a 77 acre nature preserve on Beauty Hill in Barrington, NH and additionally maintain our legacy Ambassador Animal Sanctuary in Rochester, NH. Both are USDA licensed and inspected facilities, operating in full compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, and are able to be visited by prior reservation or event registration. The Wildlife Encounters Ecology & Wellness Center is not a zoo, nor a pet store, adoption shelter or breeding facility. The owner and some staff are professional environmental educators and are individually members of various nature center, zoological, wildlife and conservation entities. Strengthened with a variety of backgrounds and passions, many on the education team have degrees and experience in biology, ecology, sustainable agriculture, homesteading, conservation, health & nutrition, yoga, forest bathing, wild plant foraging, ethical hunting, primitive survival skills and more! With regard to reproduction, propagation & breeding. The most fundamental biological mandate of all living things is to reproduce and pass on it’s genetic traits. It is the root of all biological desires and behaviors, and the most natural “right” of all things to pursue in the attempt to ensure the survival of it’s species. Though we do not currently participate in any of the animal species conservation efforts (AMP/SSP) for captive propagation of endangered species of domesticated farm animals, we do support and advocate for them so long as they are conducted ethically and as naturally as possible. Furthermore, we fundamentally disagree with and strongly oppose the efforts by small ideologically-driven segments of society to deprive domestic and wild animals and plants of their reproductive rights – and further oppose their long term agenda of domestic animal extinction and exclusion of animals from human society. USDA Class C Exhibitor License #12-C-0051
Licensed as required to provide services in NH, ME, VT, MA, CT.

4th & 5th grade wild time this morning!!
06/15/2026

4th & 5th grade wild time this morning!!

This was such a special presentation!Being asked to share my personal journey and inspire youth to follow their passions...
06/10/2026

This was such a special presentation!

Being asked to share my personal journey and inspire youth to follow their passions 😊

Mid-afternoon work-out…Derek & Riley filling in Domino’s hard work! 😂
06/03/2026

Mid-afternoon work-out…
Derek & Riley filling in Domino’s hard work! 😂

Healthy Kids Day - Dinosaur themed for 2026!!
05/16/2026

Healthy Kids Day - Dinosaur themed for 2026!!

How do you measure success?It could be 22 years of continuous compliance with the Animal Welfare Act.It could be deliver...
04/24/2026

How do you measure success?
It could be 22 years of continuous compliance with the Animal Welfare Act.
It could be delivering over 1000 presentations per year consistently for decades.

But this time it’s because this afternoon, I watched my daughter who is developing into an incredibly talented public educator, also thrive in her role as our manager of animal care!
Congrats Riley! So proud of you!
Looks like Isis is also 😂❤️

Colby is on vacation so Derek & Riley are trying to fill the shoes during this school spring break week!We are teaming u...
04/21/2026

Colby is on vacation so Derek & Riley are trying to fill the shoes during this school spring break week!
We are teaming up and heading to the Saugus Public Library
Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment (SAVE) is having us back this year for another talk about conservation, rainforest ecology and endangered species.
Perfectly timed as tomorrow is Earth Day 2026!

04/18/2026

Clouds parted and it was a perfect day to connect with NH outdoors and wildlife!

We are excited to be a part of this event again this year!Day after tomorrow, we will have a small exhibit on the lawn a...
04/16/2026

We are excited to be a part of this event again this year!
Day after tomorrow, we will have a small exhibit on the lawn all day rain or shine 😊
Derek will be doing presentations in the Fish & Game HQ building at 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM

Make your weekend plans, NH's largest FREE family spring event is almost here!
Saturday April 18, 10-3 Discover Wild NH Day 2026
Dog demonstrations
🐶 Dog Demonstrations
🐢 Live animals
🏹 Kids shooting ranges
🚚 Food trucks
🌳 And many other outdoor related vendors and displays

Don't miss the fun!

04/15/2026

I spy with my little eyes…
Not much 😂 Certainly not ticks-
(with visual acuity 5-10 timer than humans and adapted to low light)
Time to share some facts and dispel some social media meme-myths!
This is “Ike” - one of our ambassador North American Opossums ❤️


Connecticut Science Center

Our adorable white wallaby (albino) Kalina will be a part of the Wildlife Encounters Ecology Center’s presentations at 1...
04/13/2026

Our adorable white wallaby (albino) Kalina will be a part of the Wildlife Encounters Ecology Center’s presentations at 11 am, 12 noon, 1 pm & 2 pm today at the for Animal Adventure Week!

Address

Barrington, NH
03867

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