Crikey! You won’t have to travel to the land down under to get a chance to cuddle wallabies because Cobb’s Adventure Park & Corn Maze in northeast Calgary has opened Alberta’s only wallaby petting zoo.
The Kangaroo Petting Zoo at the park opened in May after bringing in six Bennett’s Wallabies from Kangaroo Creek Farm in Kelowna where they were born and raised.
“They’re cute as all get out,” says Michael Sheppard at Cobb’s Adventure Park. “They love it. They’ve got a beautiful little home and I think it’s nice for them. They get to be the kings. There’s not 50 of them in one place. There’s just the six of them here they are very happy.”
Steve, Irwin, Roopert, Augustus (Auggie), Tony Montana and Winnie the Roo, are descendants from wallabies that were rescued from a culling in New Zealand during the 1980s. They are technically Bennett’s wallabies, which are in the Kangaroo family, and pair well with Alberta climate because they originate from Tasmania, an island state to the south of Australia, which gets snow.
“They have their own caged-off, fenced-off pen. And, they have their own basically ATCO trailer that’s heated with electricity and has a door so they can come and go as they want,” says Sheppard.
Cobb’s Adventure Park & Corn Maze is a mostly outdoor park that offers a wide range of family-friendly activities such as climbing walls, ropes courses, blacklight mini golf and, of course, a corn maze.
Visitors to Cobb’s can purchase a “Bought the Farm” pass for $26 to feed, pet and play with the wallabies in their enclosure as well as access all other activities at Cobb’s. If you pay general entry, which is $13.50 for adults and $12.50 for children, you’ll have to pay separately to enter the Kangaroo Petting Zoo.
The park has plans to bring in about ten more wallabies, including an albino one.
1500 84 St. N.E., 403-210-2676, cobbsadventurepark.com