Papanack Park Zoo

rdf:langString Papanack Park Zoo

rdf:langString Papanack Park Zoo

rdf:langString An arctic wolf, canis lupus arctos, at the zoo

rdf:langString The Papanack Park Zoo is a small zoo in Wendover, Ontario. It opened to the public in 1994 and is under new ownership as of 2014 with the intention of acting as a conservation park. It hosts 36 different species, including snow monkeys, cougars, snow leopard and white lion cubs. These cubs are the offspring of the zoo's African lions although they did not stay white as they grew. They also have four white Bengal tigers including a "snowball" tiger named Venus. The zoo is approximately a 25-minute drive from Canada's capital of Ottawa. A number of animals at the zoo have been shown in the children's documentary, Zoboomafoo, featuring Chris Kratt and Martin Kratt. In addition, an African lion named Simba was a model for production sketches of the main character used in Disney's The Lion King. In 2016, a lion named Zeus escaped from Papanack Park Zoo due to human error. The lion was shot and killed over concerns for public safety. In 2016 shocking undercover footage was released by Animal Justice depicting acts of animal cruelty including a zoo manager describing how he trained a lion cub by repeatedly hitting the baby animal in the face. It also includes zoo management stating that several Père David deers (extinct in the wild) broke their necks after running into the fence of their enclosure. Again, in 2021 another animal escaped its enclosure. A kangaroo named Willow escaped her enclosure before being found by the side of the road injured. The injured kangaroo died.