A visit to Cedar Meadows Resort and Spa in Timmins can be like a trip into the natural world; an opportunity to see wildlife, up close and personal, in a safe and pristine setting.
The big resort, just off Norman Street in the northwest end of town, offers wildlife tours featuring bison, elk and fallow deer.
The tour has participants take seats on a wagon, which journeys into the resort’s 100-acre wildlife park. A tour for the general public leaves every day at 3 p.m. but private rides are available at every other daylight hour.
The animals are generally wild, but are used to people and are happy to come out and get close, especially if it’s feeding time. The deer will go right up to the wagon and allow people to feed them. But, of course, getting off the wagon and walking right up to the animals isn’t recommended.
“(Visitors) can interact with the animals, which is not common,” said Cedar Meadows owner Richard Lafleur. “They are domesticated, because they have feeding rituals.”
Lafleur added that some people are a little nervous about feeding the deer at first, but as the tour goes on they realized how safe it is and how friendly the animals are.
The tours are a long-standing tradition at Cedar Meadows, dating back into the 1980s, when they started as horse-drawn sleigh rides. It now takes place on a wagon that can seat about 20 people. The journey takes about an hour but the time is flexible. It can go longer if people have a lot of questions or want to spend lots of time with the animals.
Lafleur said the resort cares for about 35 elk, 22 deer and 10 bison. There’s also swans on the site and other water animals. The tour’s relaxed nature has made it a popular choice of activity for birthday parties, and other special private celebrations.
The tours are also a popular activity for guests staying at Cedar Meadows, which has 49 rooms or suites and five chalets. The business is also well known for the Cedar Meadows Dining Room and its spa.
Lafleur has big plans for the future, too. He’s in the process of expanding the wildlife park having a separate nine-acre wolf preserve. It would start with five or six domesticated wolves. He hopes to build five new chalets, with huge windows, within that area so people “can sleep with the wolves.” But not, literally, of course.
He hopes the new wolf enclosure will be ready by the spring.
