Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo

Saskatoon is a beautiful city, located in Saskatchewan, Canada. This city is home to the University of Saskatchewan, which is a great research university that even has a synchrotron. I was happy to visit Saskatoon on a recent trip to see friends, and exploring the city was an adventure. One of the places we visited was the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo, and I'm so glad we did! I love visiting zoos and seeing new animals, especially when the zoo shows the wildlife of the surrounding area. Here are a few of my favorite animals that we spotted on our outdoor adventure.  

• Buffalo! I had never seen buffalo before in real life, and it was exciting to see them roaming around in their large habitat. Among the brown buffalo was a white one, which is a crossbreed.  I really liked that the exhibit also had a sign that gave an old folk tale about a white buffalo calf, which connected this local animal with the native heritage of Canada.

• Elk! There was a whole family of elk at the Saskatoon Zoo, and they were very lively. They loved the pond that was included in their habitat, and one of the adult elk really liked to climb down into the water and splash around like a crazy fool! The babies followed the small herd as they all ran together from one end of their yard to the other. The daddy elk, though, liked to hang out by himself, although he did give us a nice showing of his beautiful antlers. 

• Natural gophers! These guys weren't supposed to be popping up in many of the exhibits, but they sure get around. Gophers are considered a rodent in Saskatoon and many of the residents try to shoot them when they burrow in their yards. The gophers liked to come up and join the habitats that housed the sheep and elk. They were tiny and cute to us, as visitors, but I know they must be a pest to many people. 

• Deer. There were several small families of deer that live at the zoo, and the fawns were so cute! Their coloring is gorgeus and they loved running around and showing off to the visitors or snuggling down against the fence. On a public train tour that we took, the zoo tour guide shared with us about how the mom deer often leave their babies in the prairie grasses while they go out during the day. It was a good reminder that if we ever see baby deer by themselves, it is best to leave them be and let their parents come back for them.
• Wolves! This was a new sighting for me, and the wolves were so huge! I have seen wolves so many times on movies that I pictured them in my mind as something very fictitious. However, as soon as I was looking at them through the fence and seeing how massive they are, I started to realize how terrifying it would be to come face-to-face with them in the wild. So glad that this time, they were safely inside of a cage. 

One of the reasons that I love zoos is that they bring reality to our lives. Like in the case of seeing the wolves and buffalo, I was able to realize what these animals are really like as opposed to only thinking about them in the context of wild-west stories or wilderness movies. I loved seeing the antics of the elk and getting to see beautiful animals such as the deer and sheep. Even the gophers were a treat! The Saskatoon Forestry Farm & Zoo was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Saskatoon, and it really helped us have an appreciation for the wildlife that live in that part of Saskatchewan. 

Thanks to my friend Cecily for taking us to this great place and leading us on all kinds of adventures in Canada!