Discovery Wildlife Park & Campground — Attraction in Alberta

Update 2024: Encountered another rude employee. Something is not right at this place. I think the owner/management stopped caring for animals or people, and their main goal is to make money and some of their employees too are just there to collect paychecks. Things have improved but still far from what it originally was.

Update 2021: We went back after not visiting for 4 years to see if things are better. Some of the animals looked a bit healthier but still the park seems to be doing just bare minimum. Three skinny wolves pacing in a rather limited enclosure, for example, rather than a pack of them running carefree as they used to. The number of bears seem fewer than before, and most animals there didn't seem too happy. A lot of the charm that was once there is still missing. Even encountered a rude employee yelling at the customers. The employees in general didn't look too happy but rather tired. I got the impression they are there mainly to collect checks rather than because they had a mission to preserve and care for animals. The presentations were fewer, shorter and some rather dull.

Review 4 years prior (2017): We have been coming almost every year but a lot of the animals are not there anymore and the bears that did interesting tricks, starred in movies, etc also have left (apparently to Ontario with the trainer Ruth).... Most of the few animals that are still there just laid there doing nothing. Maybe it's the heat of the day but i don't remember feeling disappointed before. The tiger "show" consisted of a tiger eating. The bear presentation was still interesting it was still not like it used to be.

I asked a staff what happened to all the animals that used to be there and I was told "you know, animals can't live forever". I don't think that many animals would have died of old ages in a year, and I wonder if they culled them. I liked the fact the place was started to give rescue animals a large space to have a good life, but for some reason the management (perhaps new owners) seem to have a different philosophy now. There are only bare bone number of animals left. It used to be so beautiful to see a pack of wolves running around, a herd of ostriches, countless deer, etc, as if seeing them in the nature, but this time, we only saw one skinny tired sad looking lone wolf, one monkey not even interested in picking up nuts we threw in, two ostriches, two squirrels, one deer, etc. There used to be so many.... I understand you can't save all the animals and it costs money to feed them but it lost a lot of its magic. It was embarrassing to bring out-of-town guests as I had highly spoken...

THANK YOU FOR THE BEST TIME EVER!!! Every year I try to take my 2 daughters and grandkids for a girls getaway adventure. While driving out to Ponoka to meet our new grandson, we saw a sign for the Wildlife Park. Once I went to the website, I learned there was camping and cabin rentals attached to the wildlife park and even a fishing pond! I decided to surprise my girls and booked 1 night and an encounter with the Big Cats. Little did I know what we were about to really discover! As we were driving thru the park to the campground, we saw numerous play structures followed by Camels, Rheas and an Ostrich. The kids were getting really excited now LOL. We were greeted by the sweetest fellow who escorted us to our little blue cabinwith a cute little porch. He unlocked the door and we were blown away! It smelled like a log cabin and was adorned with wood burnt pictures of animals all over, mini fridge and bench table along with lots of shelves, a mirror and a big comfy bed under a huge loft bunk. We uploaded the car and the kids ran to 1 of the parks to play. We rented a fire pit and propane tank and got ready for our surprise encounter. Our zoo keeper picked us up and drove us into the wildlife park to our 1st stop with the Lions, Griffin and Zendaya. She took the time to educate all of us and answer any questions. Walter and Nixon were also included and then onto the cougars Quora and Tavo and the little oopsie named Koorah. She purred and talked to us and was a much bigger version of our kitty cats LOL. We had such a great time, we stayed another night. The next day was a little rainy here and there, so as the kids played, the adults relaxed by the fire with a drink or 2 and watched the Llamas and the deer across from our cabin. Once it cleared up abit, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the park. It's such a big park, that we rented a golf cart for an affordable fee. Started off with a behind the scenes adventure with the Kodiak Bears Boss and Piper, baby Black Bears Otto and Charge and finished off eith a picture with Berkley, also a Kodiak. After that, we continued on through the park at our own pace stopping to feed the Macaques Sunny and Sierra. We ended off with one of our favorite animals, Heidi and Gobi the Bactrian Camels. Lots of pictures, videos and so many memories were made in the short tine we were here!. Every single staff member was amazing and oh so friendly. This is definitely a place we'll come for many years! Cabins were super affordable and every little penny spent was...

This zoo has made the enclosures very convenient for onlookers because you can pretty well see all of the animals at any time, but the downside of it is that the enclosures are torturously small. I would actually be embarrassed to own this zoo and keep the animals in some of these conditions. The guinea pigs have the smallest cage possible, I’d guess 16in x 18in, (maybe reasonable for a hamster but absolutely inappropriate for 2 guinea pigs) and so does Benjamin the tortoise (poor guy is in a tiny little aquarium about the same dimensions as the guinea pig cage). The chinchilla is in the same kind of cage anyone would buy from a pet store for their private home (cages that are already way too small but with the hope that homeowners will give them exercise outside of their cage) but this is a ZOO! With really very little work, these cages or terrariums could be enlarged and these animals could lead at least somewhat happy lives. They also need more enrichment in their habitats. And when we were there today (May 2, 2025), we noticed one of the elks hooves are horribly overgrown! They actually creaked and cracked and clicked together while the elk was walking. We asked about it and the zookeeper said they shed them yearly?! No they don’t! When they don’t get the exercise they would in the wild, they would naturally need help keeping their hooves a proper length, right? I feel like this zoo could really improve how they care for their animals. They have almost no shade in their enclosures either and come summer those poor guys will all be cooking! They also haven’t updated their maps so one of the staff went through with just a pen and crossed off things and wrote the updated information but it was so illegible that my 4th grader could have written it better. I mean, doesn’t seem very professional. Severe review, I know, but go visit and see the animals in their cages for yourself and see if your inner “Karen” doesn’t get a little miffed about how this zoo is being managed and how it’s caring for its animals. I realize that the zoo just opened for the season yesterday, but what were they doing...