Arkansas is home to two excellent wildlife refuges – Wapanocca National Wildlife Reserve in Turrell, Arkansas and Riddle’s Elephant & Wildlife Sanctuary in Greenbrier provide excellent safe havens for the animals and a wealth of educational resources for Arkansans to study animal lives and behavior. Photographers are also lucky to get some beautiful shots of the wildlife that live on these gorgeous reserves.
Wapanocca NWR hosts wintering waterfowl, serves as a migratory stopover point for neotropical birds, and provides breeding habitat for forest songbirds.
13. Rusty blackbird at Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge
The refuge is located four miles west of the Mississippi River and protected from the river by the river levee. Prior to establishment of the refuge, it was the site of the Wapanocca Outing Club which was formed in 1886.
An excellent diversity of habitat has been set aside on this agricultural land, bottomland hardwood forest, early stage reforested hardwoods, open water, and flooded cypress/willow swamp.
6. Retired circus elephants at Riddles Elephant Sancturary
Riddles was established by Scott and Heidi Riddle in 1990 on 330 acres in the Ozark Mountain foothills in Arkansas as a non-profit home for any elephant that needs one for any reason.
Many Arkansans are surprised to find out that there's an actual elephant sanctuary in the Natural State.
The Natural State is proud of its animals, animal sanctuaries, and the hard-working people who tend to the needs of our friends of other species! If you have any experiences with these sanctuaries, tell us all about them in the comments below.
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