The Oaklawn Farm Zoo is a zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 located in Aylesford, Nova Scotia

Aylesford, Nova Scotia

Aylesford is a farming community in the county of Kings in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is nestled between the North and South Mountains and located roughly 15 minutes from CFB Greenwood and 10 minutes from Berwick...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was opened in 1984, and is family-owned and operated by Ron and Gail Rogerson. The zoo boasts the largest display of Big Cats and Primates in Eastern Canada

Eastern Canada

Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...

. At the zoo, there are no male lions. The 50 acres (20.2 ha) zoo is in a rural setting in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley

Annapolis Valley

The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy.-Geography:...

, and includes a wide diversity of mammals, birds and reptiles.

As Nova Scotia’s largest zoo, Oaklawn has a large variety of endangered

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 and threatened species

Threatened species

Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...

 of exotic

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

, native and domestic breeds of animals. Children can feed corn to the animals and the zoo has a restaurant and gift shop. The 7:00PM Feeding Time for the big cats and bears is a popular zoo attraction. Owner Gail Rogerson enters the cages of these animals and will hand feed them meat that is collected from local farms and surrounding areas.

The zoo is open Easter weekend through November, and closed to the public during the winter.

Animals

Rutledge was born at the zoo in 1991 and hand raised. At 4 years, he set the world record for worlds heaviest lion in captivity at 807 pounds (366 kg). He was euthanized in February 2009 just short of his 18th birthday, and buried at the zoo.
Animals include:

• Capybara
  Capybara
  The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
  
  
• Mara
  Mara
  -Social groups:*Mara people, in northeastern India and western Myanmar* Mara language, a language spoken by Mara people*Mara Salvatrucha, a violent criminal gang in Mexico, Central America, Canada, and the United States...
  
  
• Pot-bellied pig
  Pot-bellied pig
  The pot-bellied pig is a breed of domesticated pig originating in Vietnam.-Description:Considerably smaller than standard American or European farm pigs, most adult pot-bellied pigs are about the size of a medium- or large-breed dog, though their bodies are denser at 8 to 136 kg...
  
  
• North American Porcupine
  North American Porcupine
  The North American Porcupine , also known as Canadian Porcupine or Common Porcupine, is a large rodent in the New World porcupine family. The Beaver is the only rodent larger than the North American Porcupine found in North America...
  
  
• Crested Porcupine
  Crested Porcupine
  The crested porcupine is a species of rodent in the Hystricidae family.It is extant in mainland Italy, Sicily, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.-Physical Attributes:...
  
  
• Brazilian Agouti
  Brazilian Agouti
  The Brazilian Agouti, Dasyprocta leporina, is a South American agouti species from the family Dasyproctidae.It is found in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Trinidad & Tobago and Brazil.It has also been introduced to the Lesser Antilles...
  
  
• Dromedary Camel
• Bactrian Camel
  Bactrian camel
  The Bactrian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang. A small number of wild Bactrian camels still roam the Mangystau Province of southwest...
  
  
• Frilled Chicken
• Meerkat
  Meerkat
  The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...
  
  
• African Lion
• Siberian Tiger
• Rose hair tarantula
• Zebra Tarantula
• Goliath Birdeater
  Goliath birdeater
  The Goliath bird-eater Spider is an arachnid belonging to the tarantula group, Theraphosidae, and is considered to be the second largest spider in the world , and they may be the biggest by mass...
  
  
• Eastern Painted Turtle
• Red-Footed Tortoise
  Red-footed tortoise
  The red-footed tortoise is a tortoise native to South America. It has also been introduced to many islands in the Caribbean. It draws its name from the red or orange scales visible on its limbs, as well as its head and tail...
  
  
• Tokay Gecko
  Tokay gecko
  The Tokay Gecko is a nocturnal arboreal gecko, ranging from northeast India and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia, Philippines to Indonesia and western New Guinea. Its native habitat is rainforest trees and cliffs, and it also frequently adapts to rural human habitations, roaming walls and...
  
  
• Squirrel Monkey
  Squirrel monkey
  The squirrel monkeys are the New World monkeys of the genus Saimiri. They are the only genus in the subfamily Saimirinae.Squirrel monkeys live in the tropical forests of Central and South America in the canopy layer. Most species have parapatric or allopatric ranges in the Amazon, while S...
  
  
• Green Iguana
  Green Iguana
  The Green Iguana or Common Iguana is a large, arboreal herbivorous species of lizard of the genus Iguana native to Central and South America...
  
  
• Common Marmoset
  Common Marmoset
  The common marmoset is a New World monkey. It originally lived on the Northeastern coast of Brazil, in the states of Piaui, Paraiba, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Bahia...
  
  
• Straw-coloured Fruit Bat
  Straw-coloured Fruit Bat
  The Straw-coloured Fruit Bat is the most widely distributed of all the African megabats. It is quite common throughout its area ranging from southwestern Arabian Peninsula, forest and savanna zones of Africa and to the offshore island of Madagascar...
  
  
• Spider Monkey
  Spider monkey
  Spider monkeys of the genus Ateles are New World monkeys in the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil...
  
  
• Snowy Owl
  Snowy Owl
  The Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great...
  
  
• Barred Owl
  Barred Owl
  The Barred Owl is a large typical owl. It goes by many other names, including eight hooter, rain owl, wood owl, and striped owl, but is probably best known as the hoot owl.-Description:...
  
  
• Great Horned Owl
  Great Horned Owl
  The Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:...
  
  
• Common Raven
  Common Raven
  The Common Raven , also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine bird. Found across the northern hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids...
  
  
• American Black Bear
  American black bear
  The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
  
  
• Masked Lovebird
  Masked Lovebird
  The Yellow-collared Lovebird , also called Masked Lovebird or Eye Ring Lovebird, is a monotypic species of bird of the lovebird genus in the parrot family...
  
  
• Burmese Python
  Burmese Python
  The Burmese Python is the largest subspecies of the Indian Python and one of the 6 largest snakes in the world, native to a large variation of tropic and subtropic areas of Southern- and Southeast Asia. They are often found near water and are sometimes semi-aquatic, but can also be found in trees...
  
  
• Japanese Macaque
  Japanese Macaque
  The Japanese macaque , historically known as saru , but now known as Nihonzaru to distinguish it from other primates, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species native to Japan....
  
  
• Lion Tailed Macaque
• Rhea
  Rhea (bird)
  The rheas are ratites in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater or American Rhea and the Lesser or Darwin's Rhea. The genus name was given in 1752 by Paul Möhring and adopted as the English common name. Möhring's reason for choosing this name, from the...
  
  
• Australian Black Swan
• Llama
  Llama
  The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
  
  
• Indian Peafowl
  Indian Peafowl
  The Indian Peafowl or Blue Peafowl is a large and brightly coloured bird of the pheasant family native to South Asia, but introduced and semi-feral in many other parts of the world...
  
  
• Alpaca
  Alpaca
  An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...
  
  
• Guanaco
• Zonkey
• cougar
• Plains Zebra
  Plains Zebra
  The plains zebra , also known as the common zebra or Burchell's zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. It ranges from the south of Ethiopia through East Africa to as far south as Angola and eastern South Africa...
  
  
• Ostrich
  Ostrich
  The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
  
  
• Common Snapping Turtle
• Bald Eagle
  Bald Eagle
  The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
  
  
• Jaguar
  Jaguar
  The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
  
  
• Serval
  Serval
  The serval , Leptailurus serval or Caracal serval, known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, "tiger-forest-cat", is a medium-sized African wild cat. DNA studies have shown that the serval is closely related to the African golden cat and the caracal...
  
  
• Leopard Cat
  Leopard Cat
  The leopard cat is a small wild cat of South and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it is widely distributed but threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range...
  
  
• Caracal Lynx
• House Cat
• Ferrets