I’ve been waiting weeks to write this post and now that the pictures are FINALLY edited (after a kerfuffle with my external hard drive) I am so excited to share them with everyone!! I’ve been going to the The Killman Zoo for about eight years now and from the very first moment I went there, I was in love. I mean, when you walk in to the zoo and there is a baby tiger running around how can you not be totally and completely smitten.
The Killman Zoo is a small, hidden treasure nestled in the countryside of Caledonia, Ontario and while it may be overlooked by some because of it’s close proximity to The African Lion Safari or the Toronto Zoo, I can say that I would choose Killman over either of those any day and I make a point of visiting anytime I am in Hamilton.
This time when we went, we got there just in time to see the feeding of the big cats (they have 5 big cat runs and are currently building more!) which was immediately followed by a viewing of their 6 week old lion cubs. I melted. They had the cubs running around behind a roped off section as they hadn’t had their shots yet but, if we had gone the next weekend, we would have been able to pet them. While exposure to baby big cats is one of my favorite things about the Killman Zoo, there are so many other things to love! Mark Killman is always around the zoo, waiting to tell you stories of the big cats when they were little, or to baby talk to them as he walks by. It’s a sight to see a big cat turn to putty at the sound of his voice; they definitely love him and all of the other staff from afar. It’s amazing to see the passion of every single worker at the zoo, you get the feeling that they’re all one big extended family. Not only that, you can’t help but feel extremely welcome by all of the staff; like Mark they love to stop and talk about the animals and welcome any questions and, even though we were there until closing this last visit, we weren’t rushed. I could seriously go on and on about the Zoo, it’s gorgeous shade which protects you from the sweltering heat, and the beautiful, well cared for variety of animals (they have lemurs, monkeys, big cats, birds and more!) my words don’t do it justice so if you’re ever in the Hamilton area I’d recommend checking it out
