While on a two-week family holiday through B.C. and Alberta, which will include visits to Calgary Zoo, Edmonton Valley Zoo and B.C. Wildlife Park, I stopped in at Little Ray's Nature Centre inside the enormous West Edmonton Mall. The shopping complex was the largest in the world when it was first built in the early 1980s, and is still either #1 or #2 in North America depending on one's measurement of shopping malls.
Back in its heyday, there was a pod of dolphins inside the mall, a flock of flamingos, the Sea Life Caverns Aquarium with penguins, sharks and fish tanks, parrot aviaries everywhere, and all-glass exhibits for juvenile tigers, lions, cougars and black bears. These days, all that has remained for the past couple of decades has been some California sea lions in the old dolphin pool, and the very small aquarium.
However, popping up in the past year has been Little Ray's Nature Centre & Sloth World. There are Little Ray's Nature Centre's in Syracuse (New York), Ottawa (Ontario) and Hamilton (Ontario), with the Edmonton site being the 4th location of what is sort of like a generic 'Sea Life' zoo experience. On the website and at the various malls, there is a strong push to pay extra for "private" events. You can pay almost a hundred bucks for an hour-long guided tour for a group of 5 people, or around 50 dollars per person for a 30-minute sloth experience. Or $220 plus tax for the private tour AND sloth feeding encounter. Expensive!
Little Ray's website:
Visit a Centre | Little Ray's Natures Centres
I decided to visit the Edmonton location as I was already inside West Edmonton Mall and I literally stumbled across the facility. There are numerous stickers and posters promoting the fact that the Little Ray's franchise is a proud member of CAZA (Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums) and so my interest was piqued. I wandered in to my 521st all-time zoo/aquarium and I honestly struggled to stay past 15 minutes for my 15 dollars.
There are loads of fancy signs discussing conservation efforts with endangered species pictured everywhere, and it is all somewhat misleading because the animals at this mini zoo are common varieties that we've all seen loads of times before. The two young staff members that were on shift were keen to speak to me and neither of them had even been to Edmonton Valley Zoo, literally 10 minutes away in their hometown.
I saw 11 species (and only 20 animals) at Edmonton's Little Ray's Nature Centre:
Ball Python - 4 animals
Blue Tongue Skink - 1 animal
Cornsnake - 1
Domestic Ferret - 2
Green Iguana - 1
Linneus' Two-toed Sloth - 2
New Caledonian Giant Gecko - 1
Ornate Uromastyx - 1
Pancake Tortoise - 2
Redfoot Tortoise - 4
Tomato Frog - 1
I'm sure that there must be a few more behind the scenes, but it is a paltry selection of common pet shop animals and I left feeling disappointed. The staff were quick to pull creatures out to show the families that came in after me, and I can imagine that certain animals barely get much of a break from being handled all day long.
Has anyone else here on ZooChat visited one of the other Little Ray's Nature Centres? Is it a similar experience at each one?
Here are a few photos from July 12th, 2022:
The solitary highlight is the Linneus' Two-toed Sloth exhibit:
Back in its heyday, there was a pod of dolphins inside the mall, a flock of flamingos, the Sea Life Caverns Aquarium with penguins, sharks and fish tanks, parrot aviaries everywhere, and all-glass exhibits for juvenile tigers, lions, cougars and black bears. These days, all that has remained for the past couple of decades has been some California sea lions in the old dolphin pool, and the very small aquarium.
However, popping up in the past year has been Little Ray's Nature Centre & Sloth World. There are Little Ray's Nature Centre's in Syracuse (New York), Ottawa (Ontario) and Hamilton (Ontario), with the Edmonton site being the 4th location of what is sort of like a generic 'Sea Life' zoo experience. On the website and at the various malls, there is a strong push to pay extra for "private" events. You can pay almost a hundred bucks for an hour-long guided tour for a group of 5 people, or around 50 dollars per person for a 30-minute sloth experience. Or $220 plus tax for the private tour AND sloth feeding encounter. Expensive!
Little Ray's website:
Visit a Centre | Little Ray's Natures Centres
I decided to visit the Edmonton location as I was already inside West Edmonton Mall and I literally stumbled across the facility. There are numerous stickers and posters promoting the fact that the Little Ray's franchise is a proud member of CAZA (Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums) and so my interest was piqued. I wandered in to my 521st all-time zoo/aquarium and I honestly struggled to stay past 15 minutes for my 15 dollars.
There are loads of fancy signs discussing conservation efforts with endangered species pictured everywhere, and it is all somewhat misleading because the animals at this mini zoo are common varieties that we've all seen loads of times before. The two young staff members that were on shift were keen to speak to me and neither of them had even been to Edmonton Valley Zoo, literally 10 minutes away in their hometown.
I saw 11 species (and only 20 animals) at Edmonton's Little Ray's Nature Centre:
Ball Python - 4 animals
Blue Tongue Skink - 1 animal
Cornsnake - 1
Domestic Ferret - 2
Green Iguana - 1
Linneus' Two-toed Sloth - 2
New Caledonian Giant Gecko - 1
Ornate Uromastyx - 1
Pancake Tortoise - 2
Redfoot Tortoise - 4
Tomato Frog - 1
I'm sure that there must be a few more behind the scenes, but it is a paltry selection of common pet shop animals and I left feeling disappointed. The staff were quick to pull creatures out to show the families that came in after me, and I can imagine that certain animals barely get much of a break from being handled all day long.
Has anyone else here on ZooChat visited one of the other Little Ray's Nature Centres? Is it a similar experience at each one?
Here are a few photos from July 12th, 2022:
The solitary highlight is the Linneus' Two-toed Sloth exhibit:
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