Missouri Wildlife Rescue Center

Missouri Wildlife Rescue Center is a shelter for endangered and illegally-traded foreign animals confiscated (没收) by the U.S. Wildlife Service. It carries out the motto "Preservation through Education" by educating visitors about the preservation of the environment and the inter-dependence of all living things.

Field trips

The Center hosts field trips for schools and camps throughout Southern California. Each field trip lasts two hours, consisting of a one-hour gathering and a one-hour tour of the facility with lessons associated with California State Science Standards.

Throughout the field trip, students learn about the latest developments in environmental protection and the ways in which wildlife interacts with various ecosystems. The students also receive an up-close and hands-on experience with our rescued foreign wildlife. The tour includes different environmental exhibits that show the ways students can help protect animals in the wild.

Public tours

Guided tours of the Center introduce visitors to over two hundred rescued foreign wildlife. Each tour is led by a staff member, and features fun animal facts, hands-on animal encounters. surprising rescue stories, environmental exhibits, and original approaches to going green. Visitors may only see the animals on a guided tour, for both your safety and the safety of our animals.

The guided tour lasts approximately 45-60 minutes. Visitors are served on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations are required. However, tours may sell out. We suggest larger groups schedule a private tour.

Our regular public tour’s times are subject to change without notice. Please call in advance for the most up-to-date information

The first time my daughter, Maia, realized I was leaving on a trip without her, she was alarmed. Seeing photos of where I was going, she sobbed and asked why I was going to leave her behind. I tried to explain my work as a travel writer. But as my husband, Evan, pried her off my leg so I could leave, I wondered if my solo trips would be worth the effort of going without her.

A few days later, I returned home and Maia was happy to hear about my trip. She told me I could keep going on trips for work — but we’d compromise (妥协): she’d come with me.

One year later, an invitation came to experience the Rocky Mountaineer on a parent-child journey. And as terrifying as it seemed to take a preschooler on a luxury train, the trip sounded too good to pass up.

Dressed in her fanciest train-riding clothes, four-year-old Maia watched me take notes about the scenery as we chugged along the Fraser River in BC. Wanting to prove her worth as an assistant, she began interviewing the Australian couple sitting beside us. Unable to spell more than a few words, she drew their answers in crayon. She ended up being such an easy travel companion and we found a special rhythm on the road together.

When she was six, we flew to the Riviera Maya in Mexico. I was impressed by how cheerfully fearless she was when we swam in cenotes. But it was on the flight home, when my glued-to-my-hip kid said it was okay that the airline didn’t seat us together, that I realized how much travel was shaping her.

Research says that travel can expand a kid’s world, helping them become more empathetic and adaptable while boosting their creativity and imagination. Seeing those changes in Maia, I am really grateful for that compromise I made with her.