Cougars pad quietly in the snow and elk stand majestically against the winter landscape at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo.
The park and zoo draw thousands of visitors in the summer. But zoo manager John Moran says winter is an excellent time to go.
"If you come in the summer, it's warm, most people come midday, and the animals are all laying under the trees resting and that's what they do," said Moran.
"Wintertime, they're more active. It's a great opportunity to get some exercise with your family, taking a walk around the facility, and you're going to learn and see more. The animals are just really active and the site itself just makes for a real pleasant walk."
The park and zoo cover nearly 61 hectares on the city's northeast edge.
The site started as the Sutherland Forest Nursery Station in 1913 and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It has supplied 147 million trees over 50 years to northern parts of the Prairie provinces, according to the City of Saskatoon's website.
When the nursery was closed in 1966, the city reopened the site as the Forestry Farm Park. It's a National Historic Site.
"Our lawn areas are still used as a gathering place. In the summertime, you can't hardly get a picnic site in here," Moran said in a telephone interview.
The zoo opened in the early '70s and has species that are indigenous to Western sa国际传媒, such as wolves, cougars, bison, caribou, elk and bighorn sheep.
"The bears, even though they're half-hibernating, they're out every day. The grizzlies are out every day, moving in slow motion," he said.
Kids can actually meet some of the animals through public programs run by the Saskatoon Zoo Society, an independent organization that works with the zoo.
Kathleen Zary, the society's program co-ordinator, says they'll have drop-in interpretive programs from April 3 to 5.
"We'll have hands-on animal artefacts. We call them bio-facts (because) they're biological artefacts. There are things like horns, antlers, fur, rubber feet, rubber scat," said Zary.
There will also be animals to meet, including a python and Georgia the porcupine.
"They will see a really cute little furred face and they'll see a big animal, larger than they probably expect for a porcupine, see her sort of wobble into the classroom," said Zary.
"And then they'll see her lift up on her back legs with her really cute soft stomach, experience her little orange teeth as she very politely grabs with her sharp claws, politely grabs her favourite (food), which would be sweet potatoes, from us and very politely chews them away.
"I think that (the kids) are just really surprised that she's as cute and as gentle as she is.
"If they've seen her once, they want to see her again," added Zary.
Zary said the point is to show children what happens when people feed animals in the wild and explain why that shouldn't be done.
If you can't make it in the winter, you might want to aim for May 26 when events are planned to mark the anniversary. Moran said there will be a quilt show at the superintendent's residence, which was built in 1913, a blacksmith will do demonstrations and there will be horse-drawn wagon rides.
鈥斺赌斺赌�
If You Go...
There is an admission fee from April to October, but there's no charge to get into the zoo in the winter. The park and zoo are closed on Christmas Day.
Hours of operation, a directions map and admission details can be found on the City of Saskatoon's website: http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/Community%20Services/LeisureServices/zoo/Pages/Zoo.aspx
