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.

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."

NANCY S / PRP Wine International

"Andrea is the best person to teach you about animals. She also offers a hands-on experience that will only leave you wanting more. She is a must see if you haven’t already. I have enjoyed her presentation more times than I can count, and I look forward to seeing her with her loving babies again soon. Thank you Andrea for sharing your love and knowledge of so many wonderful animals."

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 Distri

"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!"

Cece Cawthon / Parent

"Wow!!! Andrea and her critters are the best! They entertained a birthday for my 7 year old son and everyone loved it (parents included)! She was educational and fun. We are so thankful we had them at our party and can't wait to think of another event to hire them again. Five stars! Thank you!"