The Herpetological Garden

Starting Small
Thinking Big

The Herpetological Garden, officially Herpetological Garden Canada, is not about tigers, great apes, or giant pandas.  In fact we are not about any of the animals which are  main attractions to most of the major zoological parks.  Our focus is on herptiles ( Reptiles and Amphibians).  This group of animals is among the least understood by the scientific community and the most misunderstood by the general public.  Even though our focus deviates from that of the world's larger institutions, our goals and commitment to conservation and education remain the same.

As a private zoological facility we do not receive funding from our local municipality or provincial government as most major zoos do.  This means we have to start small and grow with our successes.  Our initial facility consisted of a small storefront on Maple Creek's main street.  This location while not being overly impressive allowed us to achieve our goals for the first phase of the project in attaining all required licensing by the provincial government, and to allow us to keep and display our Boas and Pythons while introducing ourselves and our plans to the community.

With the unexpected sale of the property, we were catapulted into the second phase of the project which  allows us to include many other species of reptiles and amphibians, better accommodate our visitor's needs, create larger habitats for our animals,  and to begin offering our educational programs to school groups.

Over time we intend to expand our facility to not only include a greater variety of the world's herpetofauna, but to create a 'reptiary'  where our guests can wander through a tropical rain forest setting filled with frogs, turtles, geckos and other small lizards.  

It is an exciting time and should be fun for us as well as for our visitors.  Please come join us and share in the experience.

Gary Dawson
Director, Herpetological Garden Canada