The TIERART Wild Animal Sanctuary is located on a 14 hectare former military site and is situated in Rhineland-Palatinate in the southwest of Germany, 15 km away from the city of Pirmasens. "TIERART" is an abbreviation of the German words ‘TIER- und ARTENSCHUTZ’ (Animal and Species Protection).

Info on how to get to TIERART can be found here.

The TIERART Wild Animal Sanctuary is the result of a cooperation between FOUR PAWS and the association TIERART e.V., which was founded in 1999. In 2000, the association purchased former U.S. military property to provide a new home for domestic and exotic wildlife. A major motivation was the nationwide lack of such institutions in Germany.

Since 2013, TIERART e.V. has been cooperating with FOUR PAWS with the common goal of creating a species-appropriate facility for big cats. In mid-2016, the two organisations together founded TIERART charitable Ltd.

Find out more about the history of TIERART here.

TIERART Wild Animal Sanctuary is financed by donations from animal lovers from all over the world who support FOUR PAWS. On weekends and public holidays visitors can visit sanctuary. However, income from visitors, sponsorships and donations in kind only make up a very small part of the financial support.

TIERART is not a zoo or animal park. Many of our animals are only with us for rearing or medical care and are to be reintroduced to the wild as soon as possible. Out of consideration for these wild animals, our sanctuary can only be visited at certain times and as part of a guided tour led by our expert staff.

TIERART is open to the public on weekends and public holidays and currently still on a seasonal basis. Animal tours take place from March until November while Bunker tours take place all year round. A visit to TIERART is an attractive combination of animal welfare and day trip destination where visitors are offered guided tours and educational programs. 

In addition to the general opening times, appointments for group tours (for example, school classes, companies, kindergartens) are also possible on weekdays on request.

Please note that the regular guided tours are held in German. If you are interested in an English tour, please contact us for date and price inquiries.

March - November:

10 am (Sunday, public holiday): Bunker tour "Animals in War" in our underground bunkers (age recommendation: 12 and up) followed by a guided tour of the animals; total duration approx. 4 hours.

12 noon (Saturday, Sunday, public holiday): Animal tour (without visiting the bunker exhibition, duration approx. 2 hours).

December - February:

10 am (Sunday): Bunker tour "Animals in War" in our underground bunkers.

During the winter months, guided tours of the animals take place only on request as part of special tours.

Book your ticket conveniently via our online ticket store.

To participate, you must book a ticket in advance via our online ticket store.

The number of participants is limited. If the tour is fully booked, no further tickets can be purchased on site.

Unfortunately, our site is not barrier-free. The paths are paved, but contain inclines.

During the bunker tour, a staircase must be managed.

At the TIERART Bistro "Futterstelle" we offer cold and warm drinks, as well as small snacks and ice cream.

We recommend visiting the exhibition from 12 years, but parents can best assess their children and decide whether a visit would be interssant. However, we ask to note that the exhibition is about the theme "Animals in war" and corresponding pictures and exhibits can be seen. In addition, visitors are encouraged in between to read information on display boards themselves.

At TIERART there is a strict feeding ban for the welfare of our animals. Except for sheep and goats, the animals may not be petted for safety reasons.

Out of consideration for our wild animals and free-roaming sheep, dogs are not allowed.

We ask for your understanding that smoking is strictly prohibited on the premises and in the bunker facility during the guided tours.

Smoking is only permitted in designated areas on the visitor area in front of the bistro. In order not to endanger the health of our free-roaming sheep and goats, we urgently request you to use the ashtrays provided.

After you have booked your ticket in the ticket store and paid by PayPal or credit card, you will receive a confirmation email containing your tickets in PDF format. Please bring your smartphone with the PDF file or a printout of the file to your visit at TIERART.

If you do not have any of the payment options listed, please contact our office number so that we can reserve your tickets. Payment can then be made on site during your visit.

Please note that our office is not occupied on weekends and plan your visit well in advance.

Please note that in the case of contracts for the provision of services in connection with leisure activities, there is no right of withdrawal if the contract provides for a specific date or period for the provision (Section 312g (2) No. 9 BGB). This is the case with the guided tours offered exclusively by us, which is why there is no right of withdrawal for these.

Should an event be cancelled by TIERART, we will of course offer an alternative date. In this case, the tickets retain their validity.

Unfortunately, we currently have no vouchers in our assortment. Since we receive many requests in this regard, we will try to offer this option in the future.

Internships are possible with us in the field of animal care. We regularly receive a large number of inquiries that significantly exceed our capacity for internships.

We attach great importance to being able to provide our interns with the best possible supervision so that they can gain the best possible insight into our work with the animals. For this reason, we can unfortunately only offer one internship per period.

If you are interested, please send us your application (CV and detailed letter of motivation) by e-mail to: bewerbungen.tierart@vier-pfoten.org.

Please find an overview of vacant positions here.