@Hyak_II has already done a terrific job providing some information about a long list of possible 'zoos', although many of them are not open to the public on a daily basis and very few are what I would deem as proper 'zoos'. However, there are some I'd never heard of, particularly a few tiny aquariums, and I'll add them to my master list that I saved on my laptop. Since I posted that list of 80 Canadian zoos in March of 2016, I've visited at least 10 more and I toured many Canadian zoos on my Snowleopard's 2018 Road Trip thread. Assiniboine Park Zoo is a must-see and the Journey to Churchill complex is world-class.
I've spent some time updating the Canadian Zoo list as it was 3 years old and in need of some alterations. However, there are some facilities that I did not include as I never count 'sanctuaries' that are not open to the public or various other establishments that might not quite meet the vague criteria of being an actual 'zoo'. However, I fully admit that each individual has their own opinion, as determining what is or isn't a zoo is quite often a tricky decision! Updated on February 26th, 2019 88 Canadian Zoos: (74 zoos & 14 aquariums) Moving across Canada from west to east... 17 British Columbia Zoos: ++BC Wildlife Park (Kamloops, BC)* ++Bloedel Conservatory (Vancouver, BC) ++Butterfly World & Gardens (Coombs, BC) ++Greater Vancouver Zoo (Aldergrove, BC)* ++Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife (Vancouver, BC) ++Kangaroo Creek Farm (Lake Country, BC) Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge (Golden, BC) ++Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre (Golden, BC) ++North Island Wildlife Recovery Association (Errington, BC) ++O.W.L. (Orphaned Wildlife) Rehabilitation Society (Delta, BC) ++Parrot Island Sanctuary (Peachland, BC) ++Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre (Sidney, BC) ++The Reptile Guy: Rescue & Education Center (Mission, BC) ++Ucluelet Aquarium (Ucluelet, BC) ++Vancouver Aquarium (Vancouver, BC)* ++Victoria Butterfly Gardens (Brentwood Bay, BC) ++Victoria Bug Zoo (Victoria, BC) 5 Alberta Zoos: ++Alberta Birds of Prey Centre (Coaldale, AB) ++Calgary Zoo (Calgary, AB)* ++Discovery Wildlife Park (Innisfail, AB) ++Edmonton Valley Zoo (Edmonton, AB)* ++Sea Life Caverns (Edmonton, AB)* 2 Saskatchewan Zoos: ++Border City Petting Zoo (Lloydminster, SK) ++Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo (Saskatoon, SK)* 3 Manitoba Zoos: ++Assiniboine Park Zoo (Winnipeg, MB)* Club Regent Casino Aquarium (Winnipeg, MB)* Reptile Gardens (Brandon, MB) 36 Ontario Zoos: African Lion Safari (Hamilton, ON)* Aquatarium (Brockville, ON) Bear Creek Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary (Barrie, ON) Bird Kingdom (Niagara Falls, ON)* Brantford Twin Valley Zoo (Brant, ON) Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory (Cambridge, ON) Cedar Meadows Resort Wildlife Park (Timmins, ON) Chippewa Park Wildlife Exhibit (Thunder Bay, ON) Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat (Cochrane, ON)* Colasanti’s Tropical Gardens (Kingsville, ON) Elmvale Jungle Zoo (Elmvale, ON) Greenview Aviaries Park & Zoo (Morpeth, ON) Haliburton Wolf Centre (Haliburton, ON) High Park Zoo (Toronto, ON) Indian River Reptile Zoo (Indian River, ON – near Peterborough) Jungle Cat World (Orono, ON) Killman Zoo (Caledonia, ON) Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo & Nature Centre (Hamilton, ON)* Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo (Ottawa, ON)* MarineLand Canada (Niagara Falls, ON) Mountsberg Raptor Centre (Campbellville, ON) Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory (Niagara Falls, ON) Oshawa Zoo (Oshawa, ON) Ottawa Insectarium (Ottawa, ON) Papanack Zoo (Wendover, ON) Reptilia: Reptile Zoo & Education Facility (Vaughan, ON)* Reptilia: Reptile Zoo & Education Facility (Whitby, ON)* Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada (Toronto, ON)* Riverview Park & Zoo (Peterborough, ON)* Safari Niagara (Stevensville, ON)* Saunders Country Critters (Oxford Station, ON – near Spencerville) Scales Nature Park (Forest Home, ON – near Orillia) Science North (Sudbury, ON)* Spruce Haven Nature Park (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) ++Toronto Zoo (Toronto, ON)* Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre (Midland, ON)* 13 Quebec Zoos: Aquarium du Quebec (Sainte-Foy, QC)* Biopark Gaspesie (Bonaventure, QC) Exploramer (Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, QC) Falardeau Zoo (Saint-David-de-Falardeau, QC) Granby Zoo (Granby, QC)* Miller Zoo (Frampton, QC) ++Montreal Biodome (Montreal, QC)* Montreal Insectarium (Montreal, QC) Parc Omega (Montebello, QC)* Parc Safari (Hemmingford, QC)* Zoo de St-Edouard (St-Edouard-de-Maskinonge, QC) Zoo Ecomuseum (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC)* Zoo Sauvage de St-Felicien (Saint-Felicien, QC)* 5 New Brunswick Zoos: Butterfly World (Moncton, NB) Cherry Brook Zoo (St. John, NB)* Fundy Discovery Aquarium (St. Andrews, NB) Magnetic Hill Zoo (Moncton, NB)* New Brunswick Aquarium and Marine Centre (Shippagan, NB) 3 Nova Scotia Zoos: Oaklawn Farm Zoo (Aylesford, NS) Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park (Shubenacadie, NS) Two Rivers Wildlife Park (Mira, NS) 1 Prince Edward Island Zoo: Stanley Bridge Marine Aquarium (Breadalbane, PEI) 2 Newfoundland & Labrador Zoos: Newfoundland Insectarium (Reidville, NL) Salmonier Nature Park (Avalon Peninsula, NL) 1 Yukon Zoo: Yukon Wildlife Preserve (Whitehorse, YT)* • 32 Canadian zoos are CAZA accredited + + I’ve visited 26 zoos on this list as of February 26th, 2019 (421 zoos lifetime)
Thanks a lot snowleopard for the updated list! It is definetely great and helpful. I will compare with my own listing. Hyak_II, is this list of possible Canadian zoos and aquaria published anywhere here on Zoochat? I was not able to locate it if it is the case. Or could you eventually send it to me directly? Thanks to all again for your help,
I recently visited the NIWRA near Coombs, BC and took some photos. If anyone would like some of those photos I'm willing to share. I'm new and not sure what it takes to get a new media category created for it or if it even counts as a "zoo" but I would post them if the category existed.
@squatch, first of welcome! It's cool to have a new member from the west coast. Look forward to whatever you can share about zoos in your neck of the woods. Best way to get a new media category set up is probably to reach out to a mod and discuss it with them.
Welcome @squatch to ZooChat! I visited NIWRA in August 2016 and I uploaded more than 60 photos into the gallery on this site. If you have some updated images then I'd love to see you add them to ZooChat. NIWRA photo gallery: North Island Wildlife Recovery Association - ZooChat
Cant believe I missed that lol. Thanks for letting me know, I feel a bit silly posting that when I could have looked a bit harder.
The Spruce Haven Zoo is now closed. I grew up in Sault Ste Marie so Spruce Haven was our normal zoo for awhile. It was definitely more like a exotic animal collection but several of their animals were rescues with nowhere else to go. The collection had lions, jungle cats, arctic wolves, rheas, yaks, a variety of different deer, llamas, hybrid ibex and moose among others. It definitely had a lot of exhibits that left a lot to be desired and eventually closed due to pressure/issues with the city.
My list of total zoos is pathetic as someone who isn’t quite old enough to make such trips on my own. I’m 15 and have visited one zoo anywhere (just so happens to be Toronto)
This is awesome. I’ll be visiting Calgary Zoo, Edmonton Zoo (if I can time my passage right), and Yukon Wildlife Preserve. The Royal Alberta Museum as well (which has one day where it is open and the zoo is closed…one day in Edmonton means I have to land there on the right day to see both). If things don’t work out in the Black Hills due to weather closures I might just head northeast from there and cross-over in Manitoba and hit the Assiniboine Zoo and arrive in Alberta from the east. The Assiniboine has been on my list a while. Current plans are to take a day in Montana to relax before an early drive up through Calgary to Edmonton…but who knows?
From what I’ve heard from people who have visited, Reptilia (locations in both Whitby and Vaughan) are worth it. Never been myself but hope to go sometime soon.
Here's 4 facilities that aren't mentioned that I gleamed from an article written in October 2022: Cinézoo in Stukely-Sud, Quebec Familizoo in Saint-Calixte, Quebec Parc Omega in Montebello, Quebec Ranch Dupont in Shawinigan-Sud, Quebec Cet automne, on va se ressourcer auprès des animaux!
Hello, next summer I want to visit Canada and I have to choose a zoo to visit, but I can't choose between Calgary Zoo, Vancouver Zoo or Aquarium and Edmonton Zoo. Wich of these zoos have the most special species (for me as European) and are nice to photograph a natural area? Maybe someone have lists with all the species they have?
Calgary 100%. Edmonton has a fairly limited collection with few (if any) species that would be unique to a European. They only five somewhat less common (in Europe) species they have are Canadian Lynx, American White Pelican, Big Horned Sheep, North American River Otter and Northern Fur Seal. They also have a Prehensile Tailed Porcupine, which are less common in Europe, but she is difficult to see and often hiding. Calgary is the best zoo of the three by far, and has quite a few Canadian specialties and some other rarities as well, the biggest probably being American Moose and Whooping Cranes, which are totally absent in Europe, along with Masai Giraffe and Japanese Serow. They also have Siberian Musk Deer, Rocky Mountain Goat, Big Horn Sheep, Canadian Muskox, White Tailed Deer, Northern (and maybe still southern) Rockhopper Penguin, North American River Otter, American Grizzly Bear, Western Painted Turtle, Rough Legged Hawk, and Woodland Caribou, which are all reasonably rare in Europe too. However many of the Canadian species are off display until fall of 2023. Vancouver has American White Pelican, White Tailed Deer, Big Horn Sheep, Grizzly Bear, Canadian Muskox, and Rocky Mountain Goat. They do also have Western Painted Turtle and Oregon Spotted Frog, however I'm not sure if either of those two are on display.
Ottawa Insectarium is apparently permanently closed, per Google and the fact that their website no longer exists!
