After a tough winter, we are officially open for the season!  Come visit us on weekends between 10am and 4pm and on weekdays 10-2:30pm!

First of all, I’d like to thank all of you for helping to make last year the best ever. We had a whole bunch of new species – zebra, ruffed and black lemurs, capybara, a troop of kangaroos with joeys in their pouches and coatimundi to name a few. I’d like to thank Ayaz for placing so many of his animals at our facility. Our staff and dedicated group of volunteers were able to let many of these animals out of their enclosures to interact with your children (and let’s face it, the children in all of us).

The fundraising effort to send our Jordan to vet school in St. Kitts was a huge success! She is in school with marks in the 90’s making us all proud. Thanks to you all for helping make her dreams come true. We sure miss her.

When the zoo closed last autumn we got a good start on preparing things for the opening. We replaced hundreds of feet of old fencing to make things safer for the animals and for you, and it looks awesome! We’d planned on getting started on shelter replacement, but when winter started in November it didn’t happen – fall plans became spring. This year we’re going to replace our 1993 shelters with new ones designed for better protection against the weather and a heck of a lot better look. With a little modification to the camel pen, we should have both Nemo and Dorie, (the fence wrecker), on display. We are going to build a whole new fox display with stimulating things for them to keep amused. The old fox pen will be modified for even more lemurs!

We are waiting to see what Ayaz comes up with this year to add to our collection. Rumour has it that we may see a trio of zebra, marmoset monkey, and several unique bird species. We’ll have to wait and see.

Our offsite people, Animals on the Go, will be offering pony rides again this season. Brad, Courtney and their friendly ponies, will be starting weekends as soon as things dry up.

We’ve added more seating to the picnic area and enlarged the parking lot. People have already begun booking birthday parties for the season. When considering a party we always suggest booking a rain date, that you put right on the invitation. This may save you from having rainy day folks descending on your house.

Our rate has remained unchanged at 6$ per person. Our seasonal passes have remained the same price and are definitely the way to go.  All that you need to do is come twice to pay for a pass that’s good through Thanks Giving. Remember you can get a FREE admit one child coupon!

Just a gentle reminder that seasonal passes are only good for the people who signed up for them and cannot be loaned or shared for any reason.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all again,

Alan

What a fantastic spring and summer we had! They were filled with really nice people, having a good time, just enjoying the animals.

We had a bunch of new animals to enjoy. We added kangaroos, zebra, ruffed lemurs, a coati and even a capybara. (No, she isn’t one of the ones that escaped in Toronto last summer.) The Last 3 came to us from and outreach sanctuary and were all hand raised. The ruffed lemurs are able to come out of their enclosure and interact with our guests. We just put a Dachshund halter on them, add a leash and let them mix it up with the people. It seemed a little odd to us that 2 lemurs from Madagascar would share an enclosure with a coati from central America, but their owner referred to them as the 3 Musketeers and they love it all together! The capybara, Velcro, was also hand raised but with kangaroos. She is a real cuddle monster. Come see these guys soon before it gets too cold for them to be outdoors.

Brad, from Animals on the Go, who operates the pony rides, has added a nice more permanent, ride area. The set up was fairly temporary this spring while he assessed the viability of them, but the children loved them and the new ring was set up. Rides will be operating nice weekend days until the end of the Thanksgiving weekend. Now that fall is here our hours of operation have changed. We are 10-5 on weekends until October, when we fall back to 10-4. During the week we will be 10-2 right up until Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day will be our last day of the season.

We are also offering a great deal on 2017- 2018 season passes. Just add $2 per person to our regular season pass rates and come for the rest of this season and all of the next.

When my sister and I set up the zoo in 1993, we dreamed of a place where people came to have fun. Where children laughed and interacted with the animals. Where folks met for play dates, had birthday parties and felt like the Oshawa Zoo was home away from home. We are a lot older now but, thanks to you, our dream has come true. I would like to take this time to thank each and every one of you for coming out and just enjoying it. As we head into our 25th season we vow to keep on making things better for you and the animals.

See you soon!

Well it hasn’t exactly been the driest spring and summer so far, but that hasn’t exactly stopped exciting new things from happening at our little zoo. Besides the normal abundance of lambs, kids, chick and ducklings, we have had some nice new surprises.

The main one was a baby lemur!
She was born in front of an audience just inches from the fencing. We were surprised it was just a single baby, as lemurs generally have twins. As she’s growing, she is starting to venture away from her Mom and explore on her own. I don’t think that there is anything as beautiful. Come often and watch her grow!

The baby bottle feeding is a little different this year too, with the addition of Lily the fallow deer fawn and Dash the mara, replacing winter bottle babies Laura the cow and her little lamb friend as they were weaned.

Two new exhibits came into the zoo this year.
One involves a horse of a different stripe, so to speak. Ace is a Grant’s Zebra here for the summer. He came to us via his new owner, Kim, who rescued him from a nasty exotic animal sale. He is a hand raised male and hasn’t really had much of a chance to socialize with other animals and especially people. Kim wanted him to enjoy himself and meet your kids and learn to take it easy. So toss some feed through the fence and get to know this pretty little guy face to face!

All though many of you hadn’t realized it, Ace’s new pen had been home to 3 grey kangaroos. The reason you didn’t know they were here is – that they hid in the tall grass. They are now located right across from the pony rides in a beautifully treed enclosure. At least 1 of the girls has a baby and hopefully, it will begin popping its head out before summer’s end!

Speaking of popping out… the little pot bellied pigs are coming out of their enclosures to mingle with the guests. The little guys just keep getting tamer the more they trust us.

Now that things are drying up, come and join us! See what’s new at the zoo, have a nice lunch at the BBQ and enjoy a pony ride!

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Just Wendy saying…………