Killman Zoo is a privately owned zoo approximately north of Caledonia in

Haldimand County, Ontario Haldimand County is a rural city-status single-tier municipality on the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and on the Grand River. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all mu ...

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History

Killman Zoo was founded by the wildlife artist Murray Killman. Murray obtained his first

big cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. Despite enormous differences in size, various cat species are quite similar ...

, a cougar named Maggie, in 1979, who became the subject of many paintings. Throughout the 1980s, Murray acquired more big cats, and numerous enclosures were built to house them. Murray's property soon became known as Killman's Wildlife Sanctuary. In 1982, Murray's son, Mark, began giving tours of the property by appointment. By 1987, the idea came about to convert Killman's Wildlife Sanctuary into a zoo open to the public. Killman Zoo officially opened on April 1, 1988. Since 1988, the zoo has continued to expand. As of 2020, the zoo spanned 33 acres and housed animals of 45 different species.

Overview

This rural

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

is located east of

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at 237 Unity Road East. It is a privately owned and operated zoo using of trails on a property spanning . There are

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s and picnic facilities; which allow guests to eat pre-packaged food at the zoo. Tamer animals like dwarf goats and

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

can be petted by people of all ages at the special

petting zoo A petting zoo (also called a children's zoo, children's farm, or petting farm) features a combination of domesticated animals and some wild species that are docile enough to touch and feed. In addition to independent petting zoos, many genera ...

portion of the attraction. People with

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s are able to access the sights with wheelchair-accessible trails. The Killman family that operates the zoo are descended from the

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and

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Tribes of the Canadian

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. An adult ticket costs $18.50 while a child's ticket costs $10.50. The zoo is an ongoing project and expansion is commonly taking place. There are a wide range of animals including lemurs, porcupines, coyotes, wolves, birds of prey, bear and approximately 30 exotic cats. The cats make up a large portion of the zoo including lions, tigers, jaguars, lynx, bobcats and cougars. You can get as close to 5 feet to these animals. In 2022, the Killman Zoo, along with ten other Ontario zoos, was named in report by the Canadian branch of the non-profit group

World Animal Protection World Animal Protection, formerly The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is an international non-profit animal rights organization that has been in operation since 1981. The charity describes its vision as: A world where animal ...

. The report, submitted to the Provincial Animal Welfare Services (a government body tasked with overseeing animal welfare laws in Ontario), mainly raised concern about enclosure size, and lack of space for big cats to remove themselves from public view. Owners Joanne and Mark Killman, in an interview with the

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Hami ...

, affirmed that the welfare of their animals is a top priority, and explained that while the zoo is continually working to improve enclosures, the budget must prioritize the animals' medical costs. The two also stated that the zoo is regularly licensed and inspected by the Provincial Animal Welfare Services.

References

External links

The Killman Zoo
{{coord, 43.1025, N, 79.9143, W, display=title 1988 establishments in Ontario Buildings and structures in Haldimand County Tourist attractions in Haldimand County Zoos in Ontario Zoos established in 1988