Paws and Claws Animal Encounters

Paws and Claws Animal Encounters Enriching animal encounters at the Gateway to Hocking Hills since 2015. Encounters on our farm have begun! Check out https://www.pandcencounters.com to book.
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Proud to offer swimming with otters, painting with otters, fox, sloth, and capybara encounters, as well as full tours at one of the most unique farms around.

04/29/2026

We had two Swimming with Otters spots become available TODAY at 2:00. You can book here ⬇️
Pandcencounters.com

I did not expect our Civet post to blow up like it has and many of the people commenting are new to our page so I defini...
04/28/2026

I did not expect our Civet post to blow up like it has and many of the people commenting are new to our page so I definitely wanted to clarify some things. I usually stay out of the comments because I’m hard enough on myself and I take everything to heart, even from internet strangers. So here is some valuable information:

🌴Possum and Divot are Asian Palm Civets, with a genetic mutation that is called “mosaic” that was bred in captivity in Asia. Just like we have bred red fox for fur farms here in the United States, captive breeding has produced many different color variations. (Just so we are clear, we do not support fur farms and several of our adult fox came from a fur farm that was shut down). Because they were born in captivity and their color is unique they don’t have great chances of survival, actually close to zero chances, in the wild even if it was legal to release them. Their color makes them stand out to predators and poachers, whether they are poached for the illegal pet trade or for their pelts.

🌴They are adorable but they do not make good pets for the average person. Reasons include: they are nocturnal (if you like uninterrupted sleep this animal probably isn’t for you), they have a musky smell, they mark their territory even when they have been spayed or neutered, they can become aggressive as adults, their diets cannot be dog food or cat food that you get at the store, they need spaces to climb and roam, and they could potentially be prey animal for domesticated dogs. We are set up and have the staff to properly care for this species. These animal cannot be compared to a dog or cat (or even opossum).

🌴Why do we think Divot and Possum will be great educational ambassadors and can do something great for wild civets? They actually already have raised awareness in one single post. Many people didn’t know they existed…how do you advocate the protection of a species you don’t know exists? We can now raise awareness about civet coffee, and we hope to help people think twice before Indulging in it.

🌴We are absolutely against keeping these guys in horrid conditions for Kopi Luwak, aka civet coffee. (If you missed our post yesterday, Kopi Luwak is made from cherry coffee beans that are partially digested by palm civets and collected from their f***s. This is the world’s most expensive coffee). Now to paint a better picture, not all facilities in their native country treat them terribly, but there is a good probability that they do. Think fur farms that keep animals on wire with very little room to move then add the fact that they force civets to eat large quantities of cherry coffee beans and it will cause malnutrition among other healthy things. I promise I will continue to make more posts and when you see them in person you will learn even more about this issue.

🌴these guys were not snatched from the wild, we have a whole barn dedicated to the conservation of species and how to help stop poaching for the pet trade, pelts, and traditional medicine as well as nuisance trapping.

🌴we are not a pet store, or some roadside attraction that shoves animals in ferret cages and calls itself a zoo. These guys are not being sold. We are an educational facility that takes part in actual conservation efforts and not just talks about it. We pride ourselves in giving our animals the best and match standards of accredited zoos. We only work with a handful of facilities that we know also give their animals the best and do not treat them as a commodity.

We have five spots that came available for this Saturday's 4:30pm sloth encounter! Meet, greet, and feed some of our two...
04/28/2026

We have five spots that came available for this Saturday's 4:30pm sloth encounter! Meet, greet, and feed some of our two-toed sloths in an indoor environment. Then take a tour of the farm and visit dozens of other amazing and unique animals!

Book at the link below
https://pandcencounters.com/animal-encounters/sloth-encounter/

Live craw fish? Yes please. Live prey is such a great source of food enrichment. Live and hidden food helps stimulate th...
04/25/2026

Live craw fish? Yes please.
Live prey is such a great source of food enrichment. Live and hidden food helps stimulate the brain, specifically the prefrontal cortex and engages motor coordination.

Picture credits go to our keeper, Ally.

Xena and her beautiful self. We’ve been working a little extra hard over the past 48 hours as we prepared and secured so...
04/25/2026

Xena and her beautiful self.
We’ve been working a little extra hard over the past 48 hours as we prepared and secured some temporary enclosures for some new arrivals that we have been anxiously awaiting. They arrived safely this afternoon but we aren’t going to spill the beans quite yet. We always like to give our new arrivals some time to settle in before we announce them and of course they get a few months to become acclimated before making their debut.
We will be spending this time getting to know each other and forming bonds that will help enrich their (and ours) lives to the fullest extent. We will definitely be dropping some hints over the next week. Can you guess what species arrived today?

Big day for our girl Priya, the Palawan Binturong. Today she touched dirt, live grass, and new leaves for the first time...
04/23/2026

Big day for our girl Priya, the Palawan Binturong. Today she touched dirt, live grass, and new leaves for the first time while soaking up some sun. We are all so glad Spring is here.
Our visitors will now be able to see the difference between Mainland Binturongs and Palawan Binturongs. The Palawans are constrained to one island, meaning they need our help to protect and preserve their only remaining habitat.

Happy Earth Day 🌎 🌱“The Earth is what we all have in common.” — Wendell BerryI don’t know how to shorten up everything I...
04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day 🌎 🌱

“The Earth is what we all have in common.” — Wendell Berry

I don’t know how to shorten up everything I want to say, but I know I can only capture people’s attention for a few sentences. Man, our earth needs us to show up and do what we can. Wildlife can’t be wild without a healthy and safe environment.
Here is the hard truth:
🌎67,000 acres of forests are lost per day.
🌎100-150 species of plants and animals go extinct each day
🌎200+ species per day are pushed closer to extinction
🌎1000’s of rivers are being polluted each day as 80% of the worlds wastewater is released untreated into the environment
🌎 100 million metric tons of CO₂ released into the air every single day
🌎 19,000 deaths per day linked to polluted air

“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves.” — Mahatma Gandhi

The first thing people often think of when helping the earth is recycling and using less plastic. Which is a great start, but did you know you can help even more by leaving things messy?
Let lawns grow wild, leave the leaves, create brush piles, and save money and time by participating in “No mow May.” You would essentially be building mini ecosystems.

If I fits I sits. Kiwi chose the best hiding spot.
04/22/2026

If I fits I sits.
Kiwi chose the best hiding spot.

Have you ever heard of Asian Palm Civets? You will have the opportunity to meet Possum and Divot this summer! We have b...
04/20/2026

Have you ever heard of Asian Palm Civets?

You will have the opportunity to meet Possum and Divot this summer! We have been spending a lot of behind the scenes time getting them acclimated and of course falling in love with them.

Asian Palm Civets are small mammals native to India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. They are in the viverrid family that consists of binturongs and genets.
They are omnivores but LOVE fruit, especially coffee cherries, which has become a famous and controversial issue.
Civets have become a popular kept animal in captivity because of their connection to coffee. Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, and it is made out of coffee cherries that are partially digested by palm civets, the beans are then collected from their f***s. What makes this so controversial is that there is such a demand, that collecting the beans from the wild is not keeping the supply needed, and instead they are often kept in poor conditions in large numbers. We hope to educate more people on these incredible animals and what you can do to keep this amazing species safe.

Happy Monday.
04/20/2026

Happy Monday.

Talulah’s hair represents how I feel after this week 😅I know I have dozens of messages to respond to, I’ll hopefully get...
04/18/2026

Talulah’s hair represents how I feel after this week 😅
I know I have dozens of messages to respond to, I’ll hopefully get to them this evening. I’m jumping back into running encounters and we have added some new additions that have taken up most of time, so social media has been put on the back burner for the moment.

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Bremen, OH

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7402434740

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