Animal Kingdom Tours

[OttawaWendy]

Originally Posted by Suflay

During the Backstage Safari tour (info at allearsnet dot com), we got to pet a rhino through the heavy metal bars of its pen, but I've never heard of or seen anyone getting to pet a giraffe at WDW. Some friends of our went on the Backstage Safari about a week ago and they didn't get to pet the rhino because the day before it had a baby!

Originally Posted by KJ and Crew

No tours with animal encounters? I shouldn't be surprised...You are not even allowed to pet the horses that pull the carriages!

Guess the liability would be too much...

Liability may be the reason with the horses, but I don't believe it is the primary reason with respect to the animals at AK. I believe that the real reason is that they are trying to maintain that the animals are wild animals and not pets. Rhinos have skins 1 inch thick (I have been told, never measured myself ) and can't feel the touching through the bars. The animals in the petting zoo area are selected because they generally have personalities that fit with the petting zoo.