If you love wildlife, especially Big Cats, you MUST plan a day visit to
Jungle Cat World! Steven and I had an incredible day at
Jungle Cat World with their "
Behind the Scenes" tour. After sharing our experience with our friends, many of them planned their own trip to do the same tour. We highly recommend this visit because it's a great way to educate yourself on the severity of animal extinction and conservation.
About the Park:
Jungle Cat World is home to many wild animals, including 60 different species (31 mammals, 12 birds, 11 reptiles, and 7 invertebrates), many of which are endangered. Offering a truly unique and unforgettable experience with their "
Behind The Scenes" program,
Jungle Cat World allows visitors to get up-close and personal with a select number of animals including the Red Fox, Striped Hyena,
Cougar Puma Concolor, Bengal Tiger, Ring Tailed Lemur, and many more!! Apart from their Behind The Scenes program, visitors can also explore the zoo on their own or with the free guided feeding tours. Situated in Orono, Ontario
Jungle Cat World is only 45 minutes east from Toronto!
Jungle Cat World's Mission:
We aspire to protect and
conserve the natural world by offering the public engaging wildlife
education programs and experiences with animals to help foster the
necessary awareness, knowledge, skills and confidence to live in an
environmentally responsible way.
Our Experience:
On the day of our visit, Steven and I planned on walking around the park and joining the feeding tour before heading to the Behind The Scenes program that we signed-up for (scheduled at 3pm). Note that the BTS program needs to be booked in advance prior to the visit.
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| A sleeping Red Fox |
While touring the park, we came across many different animal species, my favorites included the Red Fox, Lion, Cougar, Hyenas, Tigers, Snow Leopard, Wolves, Panther, and Black Jaguar.
We spent about an hour following the feeding tours, where the guides talked about the care and diets of the animals. For the most part, the guides fed the animals raw chicken.
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| Two Hyenas fighting over a piece of raw chicken! |
While you're walking around, you'll notice that there are goats, peacocks, ducks, and donkeys roaming the park!
Something else that we noticed...some of the cages for the animals (especially the Big Cats) were smaller that I expected. As a result, many of the animals appeared overweight/obese and lazy. I wish they could enjoy more room to run and exercise...
The African Lions were among a few of the species that enjoyed a fairly large enclosure.
After the feeding tour, we headed over to begin our BTS program. Given the option to select up to 3 animals to get up-close and personal
with, we picked the Bengal Tiger, Stripped Hyenas, and the Cougar.
Depending on which time of the year you plan on visiting, you may be
lucky enough to catch tiger cubs! During the time of our visit, cubs
were not available.
We first visited the Stripped Hyenas. Going inside the enclosure, we were surrounded by three adorable Hyenas! Unlike the spotted Hyenas that you often hear about on National Geographic (you know, the ones that hunt baby cubs to eat!), Stripped Hyenas are much friendlier and act similarly to the behavior of dogs.
However, just because they're friendly, it doesn't mean that you should approach a wild Hyena! We were warned by the guide that their sharp teeth can easily break your skull! But look at their adorable faces! How could you not give them a big hug?
Who knew that Hyenas would be so much fun to be around? Steven and I fed some blueberries to these lovely animals. They were not afraid to nibble them off our hands. Although their fur looks soft and fluffy, it's actually quite rough and hard!
Next on our tour was the visitation of the Cougar Puma Concolor, one of my favorite species of Big Cats. These engendered animals are often referred to as "Mountain Lions/Cats" and are very territorial in nature. Interestingly, their behavior closer resembles the domestic cat versus a lion.
I am very fascinated with Big Cats (crazy cat lady?), so I was extremely happy and excited (slightly frightened) to get up-close with this beautiful one!
Last on our list of animal visitation included the ferocious and endangered Bengal Tiger! How soft his fur was! We were instructed to appear "tall" at all times, avoiding any type of kneeling or sitting to prevent the tiger from thinking that we were prey! This fella was very friendly and fairly large in size! How adorable he was enjoying his snacks...
My favorite part of the BTS tour was visiting the Stripped Hyenas! At first, Steven and I debated on seeing the Lemur instead of the Hyenas -I am so happy we decided on the Hyenas instead! Overall, we had an incredible experience at the park. You really need to spend a whole day here to see all the animals. After this experience, I realized how much I love being around animals!
I hope you can find time to learn and educate yourself about animal conservation. Because there are so many animals going into extinction, we desperately need to do what we can to help. Volunteering at conservation programs are a great way to protect the decreasing number of endangered animals. Additionally, Jungle Cat World has a charity program,
The Endangered Species Fund of Canada where you can directly donate to. Check it out if you can!
Posted by Rebecca
