DAVIE, Fla. – With summer upon us and the kiddos out of school soon, parents may be looking for things to do to entertain all those bored munchkins!
It’s a good time to remind you about all the amazing options we have right in our backyard when it comes to day trips or even camp.
Local 10 animal advocate Jacey Birch went to Davie to take a tour of Flamingo Gardens and see it again through the eyes of a bunch of kindergarteners there for the very first time.
“Flamingos are our mascot, very popular bird in the state of Florida -- beautiful, beautiful -- some of them up to 6 foot tall,” animal care coordinator Laura Wyatt said.
And kinda like the kindergarteners, they can get loud too!
But the Floranada field trip students are definitely partial to the popular pink birds.
“The whole place is called Flamingo Gardens because there’s flamingos right over there!” student Dominic Cubillas said.
“I love all the flamingos!” Floranada student and Birch’s son, Jupiter Mong, said.
“I love it and my favorite animal is the flamingo because I’ve never seen one before,” student Vanessa Pena said.
Flamingo Gardens welcomes 30,000 students a year to these grounds -- some children have never even seen animals like this before.
“I saw an American alligator, which is one of my favorite animals that chomp, chomp, chomp all day long,” Cubillas said.
And on these 60 acres of grounds of plentiful plants from all over the world, there are 3,000 species, like the playful river otters, those loud peacocks and a 24-year-old bear named Josh who prefers peanut butter over honey.
“The coolest one is the bear, but the one that I like the most is the flamingos,” student Olivia Dillon said.
This sanctuary is a feast for the senses and largely an educational experience for these young minds.
“So we use this as a big classroom. Flamingo Gardens is like a big classroom, learning and bringing science and everything from in the classroom outdoors,” education manager Anita Sobaram said.
“This is the free flight aviary, 2,600 square feet, 35-feet-tall with the five different eco-systems of South Florida,” Wyatt explained.
Every bird in there has been rescued or is permanently injured. But they are also just so beautiful to watch.
We came here at the most perfect time, as it’s actually breeding season right now. So 100 to 500 babies are born on this property every single year and most are released back into the wild.
And that’s not even counting the more than 500 animal patients that have been rehabbed at Flamingo Gardens so far this year.
“If it wasn’t for these animals that we have in our backyard, we would not be able to survive as humans,” Wyatt said.
Or in simpler terms:
“Every animal here are extraordinary!” Cubillas said.
Flamingo Gardens is offering a summer camp in the first two weeks of August for kids in kindergarten to 5th grade.
