Edmonton's Polar Park

polar park

I know I'm behind as I read the posts here but couldn't resist adding my two cents.
I worked at the Polar park in the early 70's, it was then called the Alberta Game Farm. I learned a lot about animals and Mr. Oeming in those days. Made some good friends (animal and human) and met my husband there.
Sultan and Sequola, the gorillas were a favorite and Big Dan and Lady Edith Swan Hills Grizzly) were also a favorite. We used to feed Dan a bottle of milk as an attraction once a day, he was never scared of humans and no wonder as big as he was. He got out one day and gave all of us workers a bit of a scare. We kept the park open that day and didn't let the visitors know anything, just kept that area roped off. Very interesting!! Oh the stories I have!!
 
Sounds like fun times! Thanks for sharing, Animal Lady!
(Did you happen to know an R. Gilmore? PM me if so)
 
hi

R. Gilmore doesn't ring any bells but I remember a Bob Black and another Bob something(he was a bit older than the rest of us and gave me my first driving lesson) there were quite a few workers and some didn't stay long.
 
Alright, now for my bit.

My father worked at the game farm (quite simply, Al Oeming's Game farm, as it was referred to by the workers there) from 1976 until it was disbanded in late 1997, as he recalls. He was responsible for pen maintenance, and feeding for a very large portion of the animals there.

He maintains that there most certainly were Baikal seals there. He also laughs at the fond memory of Al's "gopher collection", said to be quite large. This I suppose is humerous in the same way that us farmers laugh at people who plant carigana bushes, and then fight them for the rest of their lives as they grow like weeds.

He said most of the donkeys that had been there (and at least two other species, though he can't recall for sure which) were butchered upon the closing of the farm, to feed the lions and tigers.

He also said that there was something special about the blackbuck antelope, though he can't recall what it was...(the first in Canada, perhaps? My guess, not his).

He purchased the llamas from Al, the "next big thing" at the time. Back in those days, they often went for $7,000-$10,000 per animals. This made us the first private llama farm in western Canada for sure, though it seems we were likely the first private llama farm in the whole of Canada. (Just as an FYI, last year we sold off about 40 llamas by private auction...average around $35/animal. Ouch!)

He also recalls the only piebald whitetail deer known to have been born in captivity. This is a white bodied deer with large chocolate brown spots.

@ snowleopard...the silver fox is it's own subspecies, a crossbreed of the blue fox and arctic fox (which in recent years has been spawning litters of yet another fox, the cross fox...a hybrid of the silver fox and red fox.) My father suspects many of these small critters were simply let loose, as he remembers them being gone, and never having helped get rid of them (which he did lots of when the farm was closing). Also, he says Al had the only Tibetan fox known to exist in captivity.
 
Zoocheck forced oeming to close. Also he lost alot of money on the animals. He was an animal trader by heart selling hard to find animals to european and north american zoos. He used to capture high arctic animals and sell them. When new standards became implemented he went down hill. The place was originally called Alberta Game Farm and had alot of exotics. He went down to natives and then closed in the 90's. He originally was a founding member of the Valley Zoo in Edmonton and became disgruntled with the city when his society was not allowed to run it so he opened up his game farm as competition. His facility was always more popular than the Valley Zoo but he also burnt bridges with the zoo community. Many animals in studbooks are listed as edmonton for both the zoo and his park so it is rather confusing. If you look at the studbooks it says the valley zoo has had 8 pygmy hippos when it only had one. Also the gorilla studbook listed them as at the Valley Zoo.
 
Elephants at Alberta Game Farm

Douanita said:
Does anyone has information on the elephant(s) this park had?
The name Packer is mentioned on the gallery.
Click to expand...

Peter,

Here is the information I have compiled with the help of Wayne Jackson, Bob Cline and the North American SSP:

Packy I / Little Packer -Asian female, SSP T2212
Unk - Gene Holter
Unk - Alberta Game Farm, Canada
-Sold to Dick Drake in California
-Died there ruptured aorta
>> Little Packer at Elephant.se

-Packy II / Talli / Minnie - Asian female, SSP 506
1966 - Born wild
Unk - Alberta Game Farm, Canada
1980 - Circus Vargas, California (name changed to Minnie)
Oct 1995 - Hawthorn Corporation, Illinois
31 Jan 2006 - The Elephant Sanctuary, Hohenwald, Tennessee
>> Minnie at Elephant.se

According to Wayne Jackson with records from past zoo staff, the Alberta Game Farm only owned two elephants. However, the North American SSP lists a third elephant as residing there. Her name was Kristine (SSP T2208) arriving in Edmonton in July 1963 from the Los Angeles Zoo. Given the information from 'wzoocan' in an earlier post, it is possible this is an error and Kristine was instead at the Valley Zoo, also located in Edmonton.

Ryan
 
Worked and lived at polar park in 1991-

My name is Brigitte, I currently live and work in Sudbury, ON as a Child and Adult Safety Instructor- and also have worked in the non-profit sector in the last 8 years-

I did work for Al Oeming, at Polar Park- from 1991- I was 21 years old moved from Timmins Ontario, I had studied Animal Sciences, was pursuing my dream job as a zookeeper- I packed my clothes and moved away- alone!

My family and friends were very supportive

The next 9 months, I worked (and lived on site) very hard, from 8am-10pm daily- 7 days a week, even though I became home sick early on, I was devoted to the 2 baby wolverines I was raising- one male, Taiga, and his sister, Aurora. I was on tv, newspapers, radio- this was exciting, the first wolverines born in captivity in Canada-

I also raised other orphaned animals- dears, moose...

The wolverines and I became very close- they were tame with me-

I can go on and on about my days at the zoo- and experience - mostly good- Al Oeming was somewhat a tough boss- many came and went during my stay there- I returned to Timmins 10 months later, then moved back to Edmonton 1 year later, for I was missing the two now full grown wolverines- I worked for the County of Parkland as an Animal Control officer until 1996- but visited the wolverines almost every weekend from 1994-1997-

The zoo closed, the wolverines sold to a Minnesotta zoo, which I drove to visit them in 2000- they were wild now

I hear the Al Oemings son, is working on developing a resort there now

Please visit my on my Facebook - Brigitte Labby, look through my photos, you will see a picture of Taiga and I

Today I am now a mother, of two, 41 now- and looking to perhaps relocate out west again!
 
I have no subscription to the NYTimes, but on google this line of text appears when I search ["Dick Drake" elephant]:
And he sold two of his other elephants, Tory and Dutchess, to Dick Drake, an animal handler and adventurer with some Hollywood and stunt work experience.
And because of the hyperlink, http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/chadwick-elephant.html, I think it appears in 1998 or before.

I think the seller is Murray Hill, as I also came accross this; ABCBookWorld
In 1984, Murray Hill, an animal trainer in the United States, disappeared with two full-grown female elephants, Tory and Dutchess, having raised them from birth. For five years he eluded the FBI and the RCMP, believing the elephants had been abused by their owners Dick and Eddie Drake.
 
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Gallery: Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park

There are almost 30 photos of the now closed facility on the link, and some of the shots feature keepers inside enclosures and feeding or interacting with Polar Bears (six juveniles!), Grizzly Bears, Lowland Gorillas and White Rhinos. How times have changed.
 
This facility closed down 19 years ago.

Some of the animals went to Valley, and many more went to other facilities across North America.
 
I know this a very old post but I was thinking about this place. About 1995 or 1996 I visited and while looking at the Cheetahs one was rubbing up against the fence purring. I was about 20 years old and had my two little brothers with me. I said, I'm about to do something stupid, do not do what I do and I reached through the chain link fence (I think it was chain link) and pet the cheetah. I was trying to be sneaky but Al saw and came over. I believe the cheetah's name was Valiant and he has done some car commercials. He was completely tame and we all got to pet him. I have been very partial to cheetahs ever since! I think Al told us that once you tame a cheetah they never turn wild again. These are memories from a long time ago though!! It was once of the best experiences of my life!

wolverinegal said:
Worked and lived at polar park in 1991-

My name is Brigitte, I currently live and work in Sudbury, ON as a Child and Adult Safety Instructor- and also have worked in the non-profit sector in the last 8 years-

I did work for Al Oeming, at Polar Park- from 1991- I was 21 years old moved from Timmins Ontario, I had studied Animal Sciences, was pursuing my dream job as a zookeeper- I packed my clothes and moved away- alone!

My family and friends were very supportive

The next 9 months, I worked (and lived on site) very hard, from 8am-10pm daily- 7 days a week, even though I became home sick early on, I was devoted to the 2 baby wolverines I was raising- one male, Taiga, and his sister, Aurora. I was on tv, newspapers, radio- this was exciting, the first wolverines born in captivity in Canada-

I also raised other orphaned animals- dears, moose...

The wolverines and I became very close- they were tame with me-

I can go on and on about my days at the zoo- and experience - mostly good- Al Oeming was somewhat a tough boss- many came and went during my stay there- I returned to Timmins 10 months later, then moved back to Edmonton 1 year later, for I was missing the two now full grown wolverines- I worked for the County of Parkland as an Animal Control officer until 1996- but visited the wolverines almost every weekend from 1994-1997-

The zoo closed, the wolverines sold to a Minnesotta zoo, which I drove to visit them in 2000- they were wild now

I hear the Al Oemings son, is working on developing a resort there now

Please visit my on my Facebook - Brigitte Labby, look through my photos, you will see a picture of Taiga and I

Today I am now a mother, of two, 41 now- and looking to perhaps relocate out west again!
Click to expand...
 
Here is a 3 minute and 13 second video (from 2020) that shows Al Oeming's son (Todd Oeming) talk about the zoo's 1,400+ acres and there are a few old clips from the glory days. An intriguing moment comes about two minutes in when Todd Oeming goes into the long-empty gorilla enclosure and also shows an extremely tiny indoor area for the great apes.

https://twitter.com/CBCEdmonton/status/1248302505798144001?s=09
 
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