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We are a family owned and operated facility that has been breeding exotic animals and birds since the early 1980’s. In 1994, public curiosity prompted us to have a one-year trial opening to the public, and due to the motivating response that we received from our visitors that year, we decided to continue to ‘grow’ Papanack Animal Park, resulting in The Papanack Park Zoo you see today.
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 White Lion cubs: Faith, Hope, Charity and Mareth William II |
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| As we look back
over the last ten years that we have been open to the public, many
milestones have been passed - the arrival of our first Snow Leopard,
three years later the arrival of her mate from Germany, the excitement
of the birth of our first Snow Leopard and subsequent other Snow Leopard
births which have earned us International acclaim for breeding Snow
Leopards. We also now have a very successful Lemur Breeding Program,
with the third largest collection of lemurs in North America. The birth
of the four rare ‘White Lion Cubs’ - TV shows and documentaries that
feature our animals, the most popular of which is ‘Zooboomafoo’ with
Chris and Martin Kratt - our very successful ‘Junior Zoo Keeper Camp’,
which we hope will mould some of the great naturalists of tomorrow are
just some of the too ‘many to mention’ milestones.
The Zoo itself has also seen many changes, each year growing and improving and all thanks to the support of our visitors. We consider ourselves very lucky to be among the few people that are able to ‘live to work’ and not ‘work to live’ – even though there have been tough times, especially in the early days, we consider ours to be a ‘lifestyle’ and not a job! You will always be able to see us around the Zoo doing what we love to do, which is showcasing the animals and birds that most people have only ever seen on Television, in books or on the Internet. We have no desire to become a large commercial Zoo, but wish to remain a place where families can come and relax, have some fun and not need to take out a mortgage to visit and at the same time learn a little about ‘world of wildlife’! We thank you for visiting and hope you enjoy your time spent at Papanack Park Zoo. A word about Government Funding….. We are often asked if we are funded by the Government and the short answer to that question is “no!” Some larger facilities, such as the Toronto Metro Zoo and Granby Zoo are, but as a smaller privately owned and operated facility we are not. All of our funding comes from our visitors, by way of admission and supporting our various programmes like our Junior Zoo Keeper Camp, Animal Adoption, Weekend Camps etc. Also all of the proceeds from the Gift Shop, Snack Bar and Outpost also are ploughed back into the zoo for new facilities and improving and upgrading existing ones and the purchase of animal feed helps to feed the animals in the winter months, when we are closed to the public. Government funding is a double-edged sword. Being a non-Government funded establishment means that, although we have to be creative and innovative in generating enough income to sustain the zoo, we do have the luxury of being able to make decisions ‘on the spot’ without having to take a proposal to a committee for bureaucratic approval. An example of this that comes to mind, is that at a Government funded facility, a keeper suggested that by putting a branch in one of the facilities, it would be very beneficial for the welfare of that animal it was housing, but he was unable to carry out that simple task until it had been proposed and sanctioned by a board, which was several weeks later. We have the luxury of being able to make improvements immediately. So we would like to take this opportunity
to thank you for your support and helping to Papanack Park Zoo the place
it is today! |
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