Safari Niagara Safari Niagara

I know many of us dont visit the zoo... hence no info on it really but for those interested.

June saw the arrival of 4 White lion cubs (2.2) from South Africa. Their very young. But this will give possible breeding companions for Toronto's trios cubs in the future.

http://www.safariniagara.com/downloads/White Lion Press Release .pdf

They also added two white rhinos, Toy and Haus, both males in July.

http://www.safariniagara.com/downloads/July 11.v5 - White Rhinos Press Release - Copy.pdf

August brought them 3 Dwarf Caiman who were rescued from the pet store tragedy in the Maritimes this summer.

http://www.safariniagara.com/downloads/Aug 14.vC_Reptiles_New Brunswick_Safari Niagara.pdf
 
Since you've started a thread for Safari Niagara, I figured that I should add that Kota (male snow leopard from Toronto Zoo) is temporarily down there at Safari Niagara. I believe it is partly because their snow leopard passed and they had room for him, and partly because of the construction going on at Toronto Zoo. He'll be back though to breed with Tiga once construction settles down.
 
Really? Kota lives? I thought he died. When I read the 2013 snow leopard SSP and he wasnt listed I thought he must have died. But a transfer to a non AZA associate zoo would explain that. I'm so glad hes alive and well. Need to rush over to the Toronto threads to spread this fantastic news. So glad Im wrong.
 
He's absolutely alive. I'm glad that I was able to put your mind at ease. I can imagine how worried I would have been as well.
 
Do you go there often? If so would you mind writing a short review of it for the rest of us who havent gone?
 
Hey Tiffanyanddave have you heard if a second snow leopard is at Safari Niagara. Her name is Sherri and she would have been a very recent transfer.
 
Sassy, the Amur Tiger, was put down June 19th due to a bunch of age related ailments.
 
Uno, the Sarus Crane, has an egg she is incubating in her nest. Perhaps a chick will hatch shortly.
 
The safari has been re-accredited by the CAZA after its usual review.
 
They have a pair of black bear cubs. Ben and Belzy were born to the safari's adult bears.
 
I visited this zoo today. There was a deal on Groupon, so I bought tickets to go. It wasn't until after making the purchase that I'd mentioned my plan to visit to a friend, who then informed me that it was an awful zoo and the animals were poorly taken care of. However, having already purchased the Groupon, I decided to go with my family, anyway.

Now, I'm new to zoos and am by no means an expert in anything zoo-related, but I'm not sure, exactly, what led my friend to be so appalled about her own recent visit that she almost cried and refused to stay long. To my inexperienced eyes, I thought the zoo was pretty decent and more manageable in size. The flashiest part of the zoo was really the large kids' play area. The animal enclosures didn't seem very flashy at all. (But please bear with me - I'm still learning about what's considered to be acceptable and what's not acceptable in terms of zoos and animal care. I'd welcome any corrections, opinions or information from anyone with more knowledge and experience.)

To me, I thought the aviaries were quite large - larger than some of the ones at the Toronto Zoo, I think (my only point of reference) - and there seemed to be a good selection of birds. I also thought the enclosures for most of the animals seemed to be quite decent in size. Yes, some of the animals (such as the large cats and primates) were in "cages", but I didn't see a problem with the cage sizes for the primates, and thought they seemed to have plenty of space and trees/props to swing around in...in addition to the cage top/grid.

I'm not too sure about the large cats and what their minimum requirements would be, though. The cages seemed perhaps a bit small-ish when compared to the enclosures of a lot of the other animals on display...but I'm not sure if they would be considered to be "terrible", depending on the type of cat. (They certainly weren't as roomy as the cheetah exhibit at the TZ...But then again, I don't recall seeing any cheetahs at Safari Niagara.) The animals seemed to be relaxed enough in spite of being so close to human visitors. (Everyone marvelled at how close we were able to get to them!) Excellent views (though the cage grids weren't the best for photographs)! The only thing is that for the lions, I only noted one female mate in each "cage" for the males. I'd have expected at least 2 females per male lion...Also, I would have liked to have seen some grass in these exhibits. They seemed kind of dry and rocky. (Lots of large rocks and wood/logs. Caged tops/roofs.) To be honest, my recollection of the size and decor of the large cat exhibits is already becoming a little sketchy - I didn't really bother taking photos that I can reference...I would love to hear what any other visitors think on this! (In the attached photo, the lion is sitting in the middle of his enclosure....Just to give you an idea. Sorry, I wish now I'd bothered to take a photo of the entire enclosure, to give you a better idea of the space.)



Forgive me for the roughness of this post, but some other points I can recall about my visit, off the top of my head...

- I loved the selection of large cats available for viewing, some of which I haven't seen at the Toronto Zoo. There were Bengal tigers (We saw 3 in the same enclosure - one was whitish-looking. I was actually surprised to see them all in the same enclosure, but I think it was one of the larger cat enclosures and rather spacious. Trying to recall if it was grassy. If any of the cats were given grass, it would be these...but without photos to aid me, I can't honestly recall)...Siberian tigers (I think?), lynx, Bobcat, tawny lions (the male was lying right up close to us, with his front paws almost touching the fence), white lions, leopards, etc. (Apologies - I didn't intend to post about this visit, so I didn't think to take note of all the different species on exhibit. I hope I'm not giving you inaccurate info!)

- There was a good variety of primates, too, including several different types of lemurs (ring tailed ones, black & white ones, some other kind), macaques, Barbary apes, and gibbons (different colors).

- The giraffe exhibit was grassy, with a gravel walkway surrounding the perimeter. I don't know how great this is for the giraffes' welfare (in terms of potential over-feeding), but we all enjoyed getting to feed the giraffes pellets that cost $1 (loonies only) for a couple of handfuls. As far as I could tell, the feeding didn't seem to be monitored at all. The two giraffes (one male, one female) were quite slobbery, but luckily, someone had the foresight to build a handwashing station (with soap!) right next to the exhibit.

- Pellets were also available to feed the deer (and possibly the reindeer?)

- Chickens, turkeys and peacocks were roaming freely right next to the climbing structure (similar to the Gorilla Climb at the Toronto Zoo, but somehow better), the splashpad/shallow wading pool and playgrounds. They seemed pretty unafraid of humans. (The huge play area also included a bouncy structure for kids to bounce on, as well as sand pits full of toy trucks to play with, for those who are interested. All of this was free and included in the price of admission. I also noticed a sort of mini roller coaster area and another ride, though I didn't bother to get a closer look.)

- A red barn contained guinea pigs, ferrets (I think?), small birds, and a few other small animals. Just outside were ponies and a couple of alpacas.

- There was a sort of aviary structure that visitors could walk into and feed the budgies. I refused to go in for fear of being "blessed" by the birds, but you could also purchase little sticks that contained treats to feed the birds. I think they were about a couple dollars each. The kids LOVED this! But fair warning: One of the kids I was with got a little "blessing" in her hair! Luckily, there was another handwashing station located steps away.

- Speaking of handwashing stations, there were permanent washroom facilities located inside the gift shop and at the entrance to the zoo. We also noticed a number of port-a-potties throughout the zoo.

- There was a tapir! Yay!

- The hippos had a huge body of water to wade around in...

- A few zebras that were viewable so close up! (Most of the animals were viewable close-up...They didn't shy away toward the backs of the exhibits)

- The wetlands trail was nice to walk through. We spotted a number of small frogs swimming around, as well as tiny fish.

- There was also a reptile area, with a number of different snakes and other reptiles. Their rooms seemed pretty large to me.

- Meerkats and tortoises shared a rather large exhibit. Their exhibit had at least one tree trunk, complete with branches or roots, large slabs of stone, and a bunch of holes in the dirt ground for them to burrow down in. Viewing was thru glass windows.

- The camel enclosure was quite large and grassy. I was surprised to see the camels hanging out so far apart, though! I don't know what "normal" camel behavior is, but I'm so used to seeing the camels lying or standing close together (always touching out of choice) at the Toronto Zoo. Also, I'd never seen a camel lying down fully on its side until today. It seemed a little odd, but she eventually got up and sat normally...

- Other animals I can recall seeing: Emus, African Wild Dogs, Ostriches (there were a few), different types of antelope (sorry, I'm not sure what type, but some of them had faint white stripe markings on their bodies), wildebeests, brown bears (one honey-colored, the other notably darker), black bears (noticed 2 cubs with mama), a white rhino, ibis, zebras (a few), hippos, swans, ducks, Canada geese (naturally), macaws, owls, large birds of prey, lots of other types of birds (sorry, I didn't really bother much with them), flamingos, a red panda, kangaroos, red river hogs (I think?), grey wolves (I didn't actually see any of these)...

- The gift shop was quite nice. I was a little surprised at the selection, considering that I went into the zoo thinking it would be a really small one.

- There was a tram that drove throughout the park. It was included in the price of admission.

- I didn't really notice/see any zookeepers except at the reptile area, when one suddenly opened the door and stuck her head outside to reprimand a guest. Also, we were walking past some of the hoof stock (I don't recall which animals, exactly), when we saw a little truck drive by. It was feeding time and the driver chucked a pile of hay over the fence for the animals to eat. We were stunned to see that he had thrown the bale right at one of the animals' heads. The animal seemed unfazed by a bale of hay suddenly falling over its head and was only interested in eating...But still...It was a shock to see! I hope this was an accident and not intentional!

- If there were any additional methods of enrichment being employed at this zoo (e.g., different feeding containers, etc., like the ones you see at the TZ), I didn't notice them...

- There were a bunch of random and weird sculptures located around the zoo and inside some of the exhibits. They were weird and none of us really "got" it.

- We saw peddle boats, but they didn't seem to be available for use today.

- Most, if not all, of the exhibits were outdoors. Not sure what happens when it gets cold, though.


That's all I can recall for now. Unfortunately, I'm not usually the most observant person when it comes to first experiences. It usually takes me a while before I start noticing things, such as my surroundings. Again, apologies for my lack of animal/zoo expertise and the lack of organization in this post! I hope it gives you a small idea of what the zoo is like for anyone looking for that information, at least.
 

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Giraffe, Noah, died from a brain aneurysm Jan 17th. Nothing could be done to save him. He leaves behind his long time pal Rainbow.
 
Did a road trip to the Buffalo zoo today and had some time to kill on the way back so I decided to check this facility out. Seeing as it has not gotten much attention on here, I thought I would provide a brief review in case anyone out there is interested.

Exhibit wise there is nothing I would consider spectacular at this zoo (in total I've visited just under 30 zoos, mostly in the US and a member at Toronto Zoo). There are several exhibits that could be considered decent, but nothing that would warrant a great deal of excitement.
Their best exhibit is for the hippos. While it is an old school type of exhibit where you look down on the hippos as they are in the water, this exhibit stands out due to the massive body of water they have to explore. Underwater viewing at other zoos has many advantages and gives you the opportunity to watch how hippos maneuver in water, this exhibit however lets you see how quickly the hippos can move as they traverse big distances in their pool. i know this might not seem overwhelming, but watching them move back and forth so quickly gave me an appreciation for their speed that I had not gotten at other zoos. They do have a considerable amount of grazing space, although it looks very barren and rough.
Moving on, the exhibits for their black and brown bears are adequate. They are a decent size and actually have grass rather than dust. What prevents these exhibits form being considered good or better is a lack of shade and hiding spots for the bears, as well as a lack of enrichment options for the bears.
There is what looks to be a relatively new exhibit for their bengal tigers. Two tigers were on exhibit today, one being white and the other seeming to be a little lighter coloured than normal. This exhibit was very spacious, well covered with grass and there were some platforms for them to climb on as well as some shade areas. Unfortunately the exhibit was lacking much in the way of enrichment and even water. There was a little water fall at the back, but that was hardly sufficient.
The final exhibit that seemed adequate was the African Hunting Dog exhibit, which did contain an elementary shade structure and was spacious but once again lacked in the way of enrichment.

Moving to exhibits that were on the less impressive side, the white rhino exhibit was a little cramped on size and appeared to be a dusty barren wasteland. The exhibit itself is adequate but could be greatly improved, even beginning with planting some greenery.
The exhibits for the smaller cats, such as servals and bobcats are sufficient in size and offer some rudimentary enrichment. However, in almost all cases they are void of grass, covered in dirt/dust, and leave a whole lot to the imagination.

The situation gets much worse when dealing with the big cats. With the exception of the previously mentioned newer exhibit for the bengal tigers, and a white lion exhibit that is being constructed, the big cat exhibits are dreadful. I do not know what the exact measurements are, but they seem to be the minimum size necessary for these animals. In addition to being small, the exhibits offer basic climbing platforms and shade options which are nowhere near sufficient for the animals. The current white lion exhibit lacks of signs of vegetation, even grass. There are small off exhibit areas attached to each of the cages, emphasis on the word small. They hardly look to be an adequate size for any of the larger cats to spend any prolonged period in. Continuing on the depressing end, the leopard and jaguar exhibits have very limited climbing options for these cats.
The most disturbing trend I noticed was many of the cats, from the white lions to the amur tigers to the servals, seemed incredibly perceptive of every person who walked by. I speculate this is likely a result of the combined lack of space, lack of hiding opportunities, lack of enrichment opportunities and proximity of the animals to the visitors. Each time I walked by the cages the animals would stop whatever they were doing and focus on me. I watched from the side for a while and they did the same with each guest. I cannot say with certainty that this is a problem, but it gave the impression that the animals were left to watch visitors as they passed by rather than living their lives while visitors watched.

I took some photos and will try to post within a few days.
 
They have two new giraffes, Moses and Ziphora. No idea where from... I would guess African Lion Safari, Parc Safari, Granby or Elmvale Jungle Zoo. They look like yearlings.
 
Greater one horned rhino Sabari is now on exhibit and welcoming guests to join him for a behind the scenes tour of his new home. He arrived from Calgary. No mate has been selected for him but he is a European import so it might be possible he will get a mate.
 
A new lion exhibit is now open. The yard looks far, far larger than google earth has shown for its previous lion exhibits. And there are wolf pups in a new exhibit as well.
 
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