Nova Scotia - Shubenacadie

Nova Scotia - part 1

(sightseeing)

July 9, 2018 - July 11, 2019 

Drove from Hopewell Cape, NB to Shubenacadie (shoe-bin-NACK-a-dee), NS where we had reserved a spot in a local campground.  

The AAA book recommended seeing the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park which ended up being quite close to our campground.  They have two sections, one for wildlife and the other is for wetlands. The wildlife portion is essentially a zoo featuring mostly animals native to Canada.  I always feel bad for captive animals but their brochure states that most of their animals are captive raised or born.  They also indicate that some have permanent injuries or have become too imprinted on humans and cannot be released back into the wild.

Cougar

Reindeer
These poor animals seemed to be suffering from the heat in spite of several fans in their enclosure.

Sable Island Horses
A band of about 500 feral horses survive on Sable Island, a narrow crescent shaped island 180 miles SE of Halifax.

Big Horn Sheep - papa, momma and baby.
They came out of their barn but we couldn't persuade them to come any closer.
The male's horns can weigh up to 30 pounds!!!

Dall Sheep
These sheep live in the subartic regions of northern British Columbia, the Yukon, Alaska and the Northwest Territoriees.
The horns of the males form a distinct curl beside their eyes.

Emu
Their feathers are long and narrow making them appear more hair like than typical feathers.

My favorite animal - river otters.  

Both were initially asleep by the fence but one woke up and took numerous dips 

in the pool, returning to try to get his friend to join him between each dip.

Beaver
He was doing his best to comb the hair by the side of his face.  First he used his front paw, then he resorted to his hind paw.
He sits on his rump with his tail pointing forward under his belly rather than behind him like a cat or dog.

Male moose

It was quite a thrill to see this moose up so close.
The keepers had put a large dish of food right here to entice him.

4 sleepy porcupines.

Barn owl

Barred owl

Black bears

Saw numerous peacocks roaming around the grounds. 

The colors of their feathers are simply amazing.

There were lots of other animals as well, esp. birds but in many were staying hidden from view or were too far away to get a good picture.  We enjoyed our time here.  It was especially fun to watch some of the children's reactions to the animals.