Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, Wildlife park and animal refuge in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Shubenacadie Wildlife Park is a zoo and wildlife refuge in Nova Scotia, Canada, where mammals and birds native to North America live in open enclosures. The grounds are laid out so that visitors walk through areas designed to resemble each animal's natural surroundings.
The park began in the late 1940s as a refuge for orphaned white-tailed deer, run by Eldon Pace, who was its superintendent until 1988. Public interest grew so much that it officially opened in 1954. Between 2003 and 2008 it was regulated as a game sanctuary under the Wildlife Act, and in 2008 the regulations were changed to designate it a wildlife park.
School groups visit regularly to observe native animals up close, and the park is a common destination for families with young children. Watching keepers care for the animals gives visitors a sense of what daily life at the park involves.
The grounds cover a large area, so comfortable walking shoes are a good idea before heading in. The park is open every day from May through October and on weekends only during the rest of the year.
Shubenacadie Sam, the park's groundhog, makes his Groundhog Day prediction at 8 am in a public ceremony held every year since 1987, drawing several hundred people and now broadcast on Facebook and Twitter. Nova Scotia's Atlantic Time Zone makes him the first groundhog in North America to forecast. Local author Doretta Groenendyk published "Groundhog Night" in September 2022, a story about Sam visiting the park's animals, and its pages are displayed on signs along the enclosures.
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