Ecomuseum Zoo, Wildlife zoo in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Canada.
Ecomuseum Zoo is a zoo in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, displaying only animals that live or have lived in the region, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. The site is mostly outdoors and is divided into several sections, each designed to resemble the natural setting of its animals.
The Saint-Lawrence Valley Natural History Society, founded in 1981 by Dr. John Roger Bider to teach children about the environment, opened the Ecomuseum in 1988 on 11.3 hectares at the western tip of the Island of Montreal. The land had been wetland before serving as a landfill in the 1960s. Education programs began in 1989, the first administration and education building opened in 1992, and the site stayed open in winter for the first time in 1996.
The zoo shows only animals native to Quebec, making a visit feel like a direct encounter with local wildlife rather than a collection from around the world. Many of the animals were found injured and can no longer return to the wild, which gives visitors a concrete sense of how humans and animals share the same territory.
Most of the site is outdoors, so bring comfortable shoes and dress for the weather, especially during summer when the sun can be strong. Allow a few hours to walk through all sections without rushing, since the grounds cover several distinct areas.
No animal at the zoo was bought or bred for display. Every one of them was rescued after an injury or circumstance made it impossible to survive on its own in the wild.
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