Have you found injured or orphaned wildlife?
Hopefully the other pages on this website have answered most of your queries – but just in case we missed something, here are some of our frequently asked questions.
We are open every day of the year, 9am to 5pm. This usually includes Christmas Day but it is best to contact us and check just in case.
Most guests will be able to see the Sanctuary in about an hour. However, visitors with mobility issues or those wishing to see the park in more depth should allow more time. If you would like to join one of our daily public tours please allow an additional 30 minutes.
We need of passionate, dedicated people to help care for our injured and orphaned wildlife. Caring for wildlife is a big commitment which requires training, registration and ongoing reporting to the state government. It is important that you understand everything that is involved before you begin. It is hard work, but so very rewarding to see an animal return to the wild.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment manages wildlife rehabilitators and can help point you in the right direction of training or mentoring and can answer any questions you may have. Head to their website to learn more.
The Wildlife Rescue Service receives in excess of 20,000 calls for injured, orphaned and displaced animals each year. Although we log each and every animal that is called in, sometimes these animals need to be sent to vets or wildlife carers for further treatment and it is difficult to track what happens to them once they leave us.
Feel free to contact us if you have a particular animal that you would like to enquire about, but please be aware we may not have all the information that you are after.
Due to strict wildlife regulations and as we are a Sanctuary, guests are not permitted to cuddle or hold our animals. If you join one of our premium tours or a private encounter, you may have the opportunity to pat an animal – however this is always at the animal’s discretion. We never force our animals to interact with guests.
You will have the opportunity to hand-feed our Forester Kangaroos – they are very calm around people and welcome soft chest rubs.
Upon entry to the Sanctuary you will be given a complimentary bag of food for the kangaroos. They will love meeting you, eating out of your hand and being given a gentle scratch on the chest! However we ask that you do not feed anything else to the animals, as some of our human food can be harmful to wildlife. We are trying to keep a careful eye on their diet in order to keep them healthy.
While we try to ensure that our sanctuary is accessible to everyone, we also have a responsibility to protect the health and well-being of the animals in our care. As dogs are natural predators to all native animals, just the smell of them can be enough to cause our animals to panic and injure themselves. For this reason, we are unable to allow assistance dogs into any part of the sanctuary.
The Discrimination Disability Act (1992) Section s54A Subsection 4b (Amendment Act 2008) explains the exemption on the grounds of animal welfare as follows:
“It does not render it unlawful for a person (the discriminator) to discriminate against the person with the disability on the ground of the disability, if:
Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss this further or explore other ways in which you can enjoy the experiences that we have to offer.
All of our animals are protected by legislation, which prevents us from taking them out of the Sanctuary for the purpose of displaying them at events. More importantly, we know that public appearances can be extremely stressful for wild animals and as such, we prefer to keep them in the safety of their familiar surroundings. Our people on the other hand – they’re always happy to put in an appearance!
When cruise ships are in port, there are shuttle buses that come directly out to Bonorong from the Travel & Information Centre on Davey Street (800m from the cruise terminal).
We recommend using one of these as the public buses are not direct and take quite a long time.
The shuttle buses can sell out on the day so we advise you pre-booking via the Tasmanian Travel & Information Centre in Hobart. Most of the shuttle companies do not include entry to the Sanctuary but you can pay this when you arrive at the front entrance.
For groups, private tour buses can also be chartered on the day. Provision for this is made outside the cruise terminal on Hunter Street where accredited operators gather and you can negotiate a trip to Bonorong with them.
We do not charge for photography so long as the images are for private use only (i.e. not for commercial use).
Commercial photographers and videographers, for-profit bloggers, vloggers and influencers should contact us in advance of their visit to discuss permitting, permissions and fees associated with work of a commercial nature. At all times, the welfare of our animals takes precedence over any other consideration.
Yes! The Burrow is our 100% plant-based cafe, serving delicious vegan food and drink between 10am and 3pm every day. We can also organise catering for special events and birthdays, please contact us for more information.
You are also welcome to BYO food or a picnic – we have a number of picnic tables throughout the Sanctuary, and do take bookings for our BBQ area.
