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Our Mission

Located in Ramona, California, Critter Encounters is a Wildlife Sanctuary and live animal education company providing up close, animal presentations for preschools, elementary schools, summer camps, Girl Scout™ badge programs, corporate team building, weddings, retirement communities, and special occasions. Backed by 30 years of experience, we bring to you a wide variety of native and exotic touchable animals for children of all ages to take part in interactive encounters and expand their awareness of local and global animals and ecosystems. We also offer Private Tours of the Sanctuary for a very close encounter! We look forward to sharing our critters with you.

Who Is Andrea?

Andrea Burgan is the CEO, President, and Director of Critter Encounters, a Wildlife Sanctuary in Ramona, CA.  Over the last 30 years, Andrea Burgan has worked with a large variety of exotic animals and is passionate about their care, as well as humane education.  Trained as an educator and a keeper while working at the Zoological Society of San Diego’s Wild Animal Park, she now rescues and adopts ‘tractable’ animals and gives people of all ages a chance to meet them up close.  Andrea has been featured presenting animals on various media outlets including a new commercial for Kahoots Feed and Pet, The YouTube channel Animal Bond Academy, The Donny & Marie Show, The Howie Mandel Show, and the Ellen DeGeneres show. 

Testimonials

KATHY / Del Mar Montessori

Andrea, thank you thank you!! That was the coolest visit we have ever had. Your

animals are interesting and the presentation was informative and captivating.

We will need to do this again soon.

ELISE / Parent

My daughter’s birthday party was a huge success! Andrea was funny,

charming, and full of fun facts for the kids to learn about animals. It was an

interactive and exciting experience for them. Truly memorable, with wonderful

lasting impressions!

LINDA RASMUSSEN / 3rd Grade Teacher at Highland Ranch Elementary School Poway Unified School Distr

Andrea Burgan and her animals visited my class for an hour and every second

was filled with learning, new discoveries and the sound of many, “oohs and

ahhs.” Andrea is a talented teacher. She creatively ties together information

about the animals, their adaptations and habitats in an exciting presentation.

Her knowledge about these and all animals is evident as she answered question

after question with never ending enthusiasm. My students thoroughly enjoyed

learning about animals with Andrea. I can’t wait for her to visit this year!"

JILL / Breeze Hill Elementary PTA

 You are amazing!!!! Your presentation, education, and charisma completely exceeded my expectations! Thank you so much for being SO wonderful! What a win for our school!!

 


SARAH / Poway

 Andrea is professional and amazing! Her love for her animal pals are so genuine. She's so great with presenting them to the crowd! Critter Encounters is educational and fun! My one year old daughter enjoyed it so much! Our guests said it's the best party ever because of Critter Encounters! We highly recommend Andrea 10/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Christy / Pine Valley

I Just wanted to thank you again for providing such a wonderful experience for my daughter and her friends! You were fun, informative, engaging and overall absolutely fantastic!  Josie and her friends had a blast and so did the big kids!

Savannah / Del Sur

Thank you again for such an amazing afternoon!  It was definitely an experience we will never forget and we were so lucky to meet you and learn about your animals. Avery was so happy she had the opportunity to hold so many animals. We appreciate you so much!

Meet Our Animal Ambassadors

Finley

Clementine

Finley

The Fennec Fox

Titus

Clementine

Finley

The Tegu

Clementine

Clementine

Clementine

The Juliana Pig

Rufus

Bertrum

Bertrum

The Chinchilla

Bertrum

Bertrum

Bertrum

The Chinchilla

Ruby

Bertrum

Ruby

The Red-tailed Hawk

Pebbles and Bam Bam

Pebbles and Bam Bam

Pebbles and Bam Bam

The Uromastyx

Forrest

Pebbles and Bam Bam

Pebbles and Bam Bam

The Great Horned Owl

Willow

Pebbles and Bam Bam

Willow

The Great Horned Owl

Monty

Penelope

Penelope

The Savannah Monitor

Penelope

Penelope

Penelope

The Juliana Pig

Ellie

Penelope

Ellie

The Nigerian Dwarf Goat

Vinnie

Vinnie

Vinnie

The Nigerian Dwarf Goat

Remy

Vinnie

Vinnie

The Raccoon

Merlin

Vinnie

Merlin

The Veiled Chameleon

Cornelius

Cornelius

Cornelius

The Corn Snake

Poppy

Cornelius

Cornelius

The Opossum

Pancake

Cornelius

Pancake

The Bearded Dragon

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Call us

Monday - Friday: 9am - 5pm

Saturday: By appointment

Sunday: By appointment

Call Us (619) 985-2415


Copyright © 2022 Critter Encounters - All Rights Reserved.