Safari Niagara is open for its 2026 season in Stevensville, with two new keeper talks introducing visitors to conservation issues facing Andean condors, macaws and parrots. The zoo opened May 9 and will remain open until October 11, Fort Erie Radio reported.
The opening weekend included $9 admission for mothers on May 9 and 10. That Mother’s Day promotion ended Sunday.
Ian Shulman, Safari Niagara’s guest experience manager, told Fort Erie Radio ahead of Mother’s Day that the park expected Sunday to draw its biggest crowds of the opening weekend.
The new talks are part of the park’s growing emphasis on wildlife education. They focus on the pressures animals face in the wild, as well as the role zoos play in conservation.
Conservation and a former pet’s rehabilitation
One of the talks centres on the park’s Andean condors. Shulman described the birds as an at-risk species and said the programming gives visitors an opportunity to learn about why zoos exist.
The second talk, about macaws and parrots, introduces Nolan, a macaw who lived as a pet in Halifax for 20 years before coming to Safari Niagara.
According to Shulman, Nolan arrived without experience living with other birds. Staff spent about a year rehabilitating him before integrating him into the park’s bird collection.
“He had never interacted with another bird, never eaten as a bird, never treated as a bird–he was basically treated as a pet,” Shulman told Fort Erie Radio.
Shulman said habitat loss is the leading reason animals become endangered in the wild. The park uses its educational programming to connect that issue with choices visitors make in their everyday lives at home.
Wet conditions affected opening-day exhibits
Not all animals were on exhibit when the season began. Wet spring conditions left the giraffe paddock too saturated to use, keeping the giraffes off exhibit on opening day.
Shulman said adjusting to seasonal conditions is a routine part of the park’s operations.