Sustainability and  Mission

Amazing Animal Encounters was started to fund the care of the rehomed and rescued animals in our care at our home and private sanctuary. 

Amazing Animal Encounters means the animal's care is financed and we are able to take on more animals in need of a suitable, experienced home with the time to look after them. Unlike charitable organisations, Amazing Animal Encounters is a licensed animal establishment, meaning we are independently inspected every year to ensure the welfare of the animals is maintained and we are bound by legislation that ensures all our paperwork and methodology is current and correct.

Our animals have a meaningful existence, educating about the destruction of habitats and environments and steering people away from irresponsible pet ownership and over consumption of natural resources. Through our sessions we educate young and old about the environmental impact of keeping pets. Irresponsible pet keeping and outdated ideas have a serious impact on the wildlife all around us and the well being of some of our pets at the same time. 

At Amazing Animal Encounters we aim to reduce our carbon footprint and impact on our planet. 

We recycle, re-use a ​ nd compost and choose the shortest routes possible for our journeys to sessions. We actively encourage more local bookings rather than further afield by reducing the session charge to local customers (on site sessions do not apply) and prioritise those bookings over further afield booking enquiries. We try to avoid plastic or choose products that use less of it where possible. 

We grow our own organic food to feed the animals and ourselves and collect rain water to reduce the amount of water we use.

We have won three Kent Wildlife Trust garden awards including one for Best "Dragon" Garden (because of our habitats with native cold blooded species such as newts, lizards and frogs) and a Gold Award.  

We are lucky to share our holding with tawny owls, wild foxes (including one with no tail!), beautiful wild birds including goldcrests, woodpeckers, goldfinches, long tailed tits, flycatchers, yellowhammers and warblers, two species of newts, frogs, toads and viviparous lizards.

We aim to ensure every session we provide has an appropriate educational element covering environmental issues, the five freedoms (the foundations to good animal care) and fostering a respectful attitude towards non human beings, such as considering their right to consent during our interactions with them. 

We show to participants the kindest ways to interact with animals using methods of interaction during our sessions that demonstrate and promote these techniques.  

We also encourage people looking to book encounters for very young children or large groups or events to consider alternatives to hiring live animals. We only provide sessions for small, suitable groups and events that are well managed and crowd controlled. We have a life like replica reindeer to provide an alternative to hiring live reindeer for seasonal events

We are very aware of animal welfare concerns about young children holding animals, especially in a party environment. These concerns lead some people to believe that animal encounters are highly unethical and there are even animal rights organisations that devote much time to campaign against them. 

Although we ensure every child has the opportunity to touch or observe up close all the animals, we do not guarantee physical handling that could be considered "cuddling". All interaction is entirely at the handlers discretion. A child can very easily fatally injure an animal in mere seconds - they can choke or crush them very easily, even well intentioned children. 

Other hazards to the animal can include being dropped or having their fur or feathers pulled. We do everything to make sure our animals are never put in a position where these incidents can happen, and ensure we abide by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 by making sure our animals are free from pain and injury and free from fear and distress. 

We strongly believe children should be taught from an early age to understand that animals are not play things and should not be pulled around at a child's whim. Our gentle and sensitive approach educates children to approach animal interaction in a respectful, dignified and species appropriate manner and ultimately ensures the safety of the child. 

Rather than fit in as many sessions as we can, Amazing Animal Encounters, seeks to fit in just enough sessions in order to keep running. That means no more than two on site sessions a day or one off site per day - we don't do both on any one day. It means the animals are well rested and keen to meet their new friends - and we have plenty of time to do all the things on the holding we need to do to look after the animals properly. 

We are continually adapting and updating husbandry techniques and the way we work with our clients.  We aim to provide low risk, gentle, kind, animal experiences. We aim to leave participants uplifted, rested and educated. 

We aim to provide an environment that is welcoming and a safe space. We can work with any client with any concerns to provide them with an experience that suits their needs in regards to additional needs, disabilities, privacy, anxieties, confidence issues, sensory issues, safeguarding, phobias or covid concerns.