northwood buffalo andn exotic animal ranch

I went to check out this zoo today with my son. But when we got there the gate read "closed". I called and when someone answered they told me that they closed a couple years ago.

Unbelievably green and lovely place. All the animal cages spotless, very clean. Animals very healthy. We enjoyed seeing the monkeys, bears, and the cheetahs in particular. Lots of beautiful animals to see. Animal expert lead us on the tour and talked about each animal and answered all of our questions. Wish we had more time to spend an entire day visiting with every animal.

I have purchased the Family Season Pass, offered by Northwood Ranch, for the past seven years. My family and I have never had a bad experience there and have never thought the animals to be in poor living habitats. It is a great experience and a knowledgeable one at that. The employees are always around to talk and will sometimes go around the sanctuary with you. Every visitor is welcome to tag along during the feeding time of some animals. You are able to get up close and personal with the majority of the animals. You can even feed the monkeys, apes, lemurs, and baboons. It is a great place for a family trip or even an educational trip. I strongly recommend visiting the Northwood Ranch Sanctuary. The reviewers who claim this to be a 'poor' and 'shameless' sanctuary are clearly miserable people who think they know everything. We are close friends with the owners of the sanctuary and I can 100% guarantee that all animals are well treated and not "objects used for television". No animal has ever had it's furred dyed. The monkeys, lemurs, apes, and baboons all have water INSIDE their habitat, not outside in their play area to avoid their water being warmed by the weather. The reason the wolf cubs are separated from the elder wolves is to ensure the cubs are getting the amount of food and nutrition they need. Once they are in the tween stage they are then reintroduced into the wolves habitat with the elders. I am not claiming to be a zoology expert, but the negative reviewers tend to think they are.

I recently took my son to the zoo, I have gone a few years back, I think it is under new ownership, half the animals that were there years ago are no longer there. I was very disappointed as I had paid 13$ for my son and 19$ for myself. All of the animals appeAred to be bored from lack of stimulation in there exhibits. I did notice they all had water in the cages and most of them had good which was a positive to see. I wasnt happy talking to I believe she was the wife who owns the zoo, she had told me one of the bear cubs had been dyed white to be in a tv show out west. I would not recommend this "sanctuary" to anyone, it is not worth you money. I feel horrible for the animals as they all appear to be bored. Hope this review is helpful to anyone considering going to this zoo.

We are so angry with the reviews that say this is a bad sanctuary. All animals can not be stimulated at all times. I myself find life to be boring at times. We believe Tony to be doing these animals a good service. Of course these creatures don't live in the Ritz or Caesar Palace , if they did they would probably be more bored. Do these people really believe animals in the wild eat full five course dinners, cooked on stoves. These fools should not quit their daytime jobs and leave the sanctuaries to people who know how animals live. My wife has a degree in wildlife and found nothing wrong with the treatment of the animals. these morons that project human emotion upon these animals don't have a clue. We personally look forward to the Safari night every year but hear now it is not happening. Quite possibly thanks to people who know nothing about how animals think. Tony we believe you are doing a great job and hope you will reopen to the general public soon. We will miss going there on safari night. Good luck to you and you great staff. You are doing a top notch job. This review is based on two visits . The first being a couples visit then we decided it would be a great experience for my Daughters family including my two year old grandson and most of us had a blast. the only one who would have a negative input was my daughters husband. But really his opinion does not count for much.Thanks for everything. Wayne and Kelly Forhan

Our visit was quite enjoyable as we arrived 1 hour before feeding time.The lions , tigers, lynx's and grizzly bears put on show for everyone there. Animals were in excellent shape - well looked after and very animate. The lion cub was just too cute, sadly he was by himself because his mom did not want to look after him. The lion pride did not take long to devour whole chickens. The tigers are absolutely beautiful and very large. Would recommend this place to any animal lover. Animals were a lot more active then the ones at the Toronto zoo. Be advised that they do not have a debit machine.

I would recommend to everyone to visit this amazing Zoo. It was a really great experience for our family, even though we are all adults. We really enjoyed a close look to clean, well-fed, and taken a good care animals. The only thing I did not like about this experience - we had some troubles to find it. There are no signs to direct you there and we had to ask for directions couple of times.

Amazing up close visits with the animals, unlike some previous reviews me and my family found the animals to look very happy, at peace, and calm in their enclosures. The animals also kept themselves well groomed which is a sing that their happy. They had lot's of space and it was noticeable that after hours they were probably let out into some of the bigger fields to run and exercise. The owner was very friendly and loved answering our questions. We noticed the animals (Particularly the big cats) were pacing, this was because it was near feeding time and they were waiting impatiently, lol. I saw clean water bowls and absolutely no poop in the enclosures which made it look very tidy. It is not a perfectly manicured park with flowers and pretty walkways, but it is an amazingly nice park for the animals. The baby lion running around with his stuffed animals was definitely a highlight. I would highly recommend this zoo to anyone that enjoys animals, even my teenagers loved running up to the animals and viewing them!

Great variety of animals. All very fit and well cared for, including a 40! Year old Black Bear whose teeth were removed in time past in another "attraction".Stunning cats, Kodiacs, Grizzlies, and truly exotic cats you've never seen before.Lemurs, apes monkeys baboons, birds snakes...All competently housed in CLEAN and appropriate pens. It is a Zoo, not a natural habitat. Very well put together, and surprisingly sparsely unattended- lack of commercial motivation, I expect.A great day, and we got great up- close pics!

i have so many good memory here at the north wood ranch, i find everyone to be so helpful and nice and friendly with lots of answers to all my questions. I had my 3 kids with me and they even feed the cats well we were there and i had so much fun and the kids had more fun then ever. I wish i was able to stay longer and get to watch more. I did not like the long drive up the dirt road going up into there place but when you do get into there driveway it smoothing out and not so ruff of a ride. I see there was so much money put into there cages and everything is up to date and there is so much food there to make sure everyone was fed full and grow so big.. I never seen staff so well off and worked so hard and being so friendly and happy for doing what they do. I remember my visits there and always want to come back with in a week of leaving there. I say to anyone who wants to be wowed and amazing at how close and personal you can go to the wild cats and bears, go to this place and see for yourself....... its the most amazing place i have ever been too... So many diffrent kinds of animals you will see them all. COME see you will not be let down. i swear on my name!!! This is one trip u must bring your family too before you end your holidays for the year. thanks so much from the Donoghue Family

This is the first zoo I have been too where you can get very close to the animals and watch the feedings at 3 pm each day. I was lucky and got to bottle feed a baby tiger and lion. The owners are very friendly and offers guests to bottlefeed the animals. They have Night Safari's and you can look at the animals in the dark and watch a animal show for the kids. Great family day and the owners Norm and Lori are very friendly and accommodating. Location is a bit off the main road and the prices are reasonable. Bring your lunch and enjoy the lovely view.

i found zoo to be very well maintained, animals do get bored sitting in a cage, dohhh ya think??? what do you want easy chairs and tv, grow up and project what these people are doing at the zoo, to feed , provide vet care, takes money, and if they can use the animals to make money to care for the animals so be it, keep your 15 bucks in your pocket and stick it, i have never been to a zoo with healthier animals, grats tony keep up the good work

Northwood zoo is the only zoo that I have been to where you can get really close to the animals and interact with baby tigers. Totally amazing experience.I have to say it is the cleanest zoo I have ever been to as well.I was at the Night Safari in August and they are doing another one on Oct 10th,09 where you get to watch an animal show, listen to african drummers and bring your flash light to look at the animals at night. The kids love it. Lots of fun for the whole family.Bring cash only as they do not have interact or Visa.The prices are reasonable and are rax free.

I'm writing to tell you of my wonderful experiences at Northwood Animal Ranch and zoo.We've been taking our family to the zoo since our children were youngsters and nowhere that I know of can you experience exotic animals in a better setting. In fact, the owners have even allowed us to interact with young tiger, lion and bear cubs on occasion.Recently on a visit we were allowed to sit on the grass with an eight month old grizzly bear, while all around us lions, tigers, cougars and wolves roamed in large, open air compounds.Anyone who is visiting the Port Perry area should make the short five mile north of town to Seagrave to visit Northwood Zoo. You will come away feeling exceptionally good about the zoo and its wonderful variety of wildlife.

I had heard about this place when i moved to the area, so decided to visit. They were advertised as a sanctuary. As soon as I got there I could see that "concentration camp" or "prison" would be a more fitting title. As soon as you get there and park, you see the disgusting conditions the animals are kept in, they don't even attempt to hide it before you pay the $15 (cash only!) admission fee. I'm glad for that, because they sure didn't get my money! The first thing I saw was a very sad looking big cat (I can't remember what species) in a barren cage. It was pacing back and forth, the sad consequence of complete boredom and poor care. There was a parrot that was almost completely plucked bald perched in a tiny cage by the admission building. Perhaps a high traffic area like that with constant strangers being loud and poking their hands in the cage is not the best place for a bird that was mentally anguished enough to self mutilate. I also saw a monkey in another tiny cage rocking back and forth, another sign of madness caused by lack of stimulation. Water was either dirty or absent from the cages, and there was no food to be seen. I don't know what these animals were rescued from for this place to called a "sanctuary", but it can't have been much worse that what they endure now. As soon as I saw this I turned around and left. Sad that there's not much I can do to alleviate the suffering of these animals. The cages are also very inappropriate for an operation that allows the public in, including children. Many cages have no barriers for the public, so people can stick their hands into them, which could result in injury to the animal or person. I guess an incident needs to happen first, like another road side zoo in ontario in which a child was bitten by an animal and severely injured a few years back.Apparently this "sanctuary" also breeds their animals to sell to other roadside zoos like themselves. What happened to a sanctuary being about animal welfare? Sanctuaries exist because we have too many wild animals in captivity with poor care, and not even good places for them to live. This place just brings more into the world for a quick buck.Pathetic.If you get a kick out of seeing animals suffer, then visit this place; however, if you love animals, spend the time writing a letter to the ospca or the government to do something about places like this! Plus, you'll save $15!