Maine Wildlife Park

Top choice

LoginSave

Not quite a zoo but a great place to view native Maine wildlife, this park is a bucolic reserve with picnic tables, short walking trails and animal enclosures. Residing here are various animals (30 species, including bears, moose, lynx, eagles, cougars and a beaver) that can't be released back into the wild because they were injured, orphaned, or raised in captivity.

If you have kids along, be sure to bring quarters so you can purchase animal feed from gumball-style feed containers to give to some of the animals (including bears). Avid photographers can buy a photo pass ($50 per hour), which gives free guided access inside the animal enclosures for close-up pics.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • BATH, ME - MARCH 18: A flyer for a past event is seen Friday, March 18, 2016 at the Maine Maritime Museum boat shop in Bath, Maine. (Photo by Joel Page/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

    Maine Maritime Museum

    26.33 MILES

    There's a palpable mix of reflective nostalgia and horizon-scanning adventure at this wonderful museum, which preserves the Kennebec's long shipbuilding…

  • Portland Museum of Art

    Portland Museum of Art

    19.28 MILES

    Founded in 1882, this well-respected museum houses an outstanding collection of American artists. Maine artists, including Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper,…

  • Cliff rocks by trail by Portland Head Lighthouse in Fort Williams park in Cape, Elizabeth Maine during summer day

    Fort Williams Park

    21.94 MILES

    Four miles southeast of Portland on Cape Elizabeth, 90-acre Fort Williams Park is worth visiting simply for the panoramas and picnic possibilities. Stroll…

  • Portland Head Light

    Portland Head Light

    21.9 MILES

    Fort Williams Park, on Cape Elizabeth, has rolling lawns dotted with bunkers and gun emplacements. Within the park stands the beloved, and much…

  • Bowdoin College Museum of Art

    Bowdoin College Museum of Art

    18.9 MILES

    Set in a 19th-century building with a dramatic glass entrance pavilion, this campus art museum is small but impressive. The 20,000-piece collection is…

  • EPHH8P Portland Breakwater Lighthouse, aka The Bug, South Portland Maine

    Portland Breakwater Light

    19.5 MILES

    Portland is graced by a handful of handsome lights, including the 1875 Portland Breakwater Light with its Corinthian columns. Dubbed the 'Bug Light'…

  • Portland, ME, USA - September 17, 2013: Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Portland, Maine, New England, USA. The Wadsworth-Longfellow House is Maine's first house museum. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a commanding figure in the cultural life of nineteenth-century America. Born in Portland, Maine, in 1807, he became a national literary figure by the 1850s, and a world- famous personality by the time of his death in 1882. Red brick colonial house, gates, green front yard with trees, bushes and grass and blue sky are in the image. Longfellow House

    Longfellow House

    19.1 MILES

    The revered American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) grew up in this Federal-style house, built in 1785 by his Revolutionary War–hero…

  • BRUNSWICK, ME - AUGUST 6: Six sculptures worth seeing in the midcoast area, including a Joshua Chamberlain statue at the entrance to the Bowdoin campus in Brunswick. (Photo by Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

    Bowdoin College

    18.91 MILES

    Bowdoin, established in 1794, is one of the oldest colleges in the US and the alma mater of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne and US…

View more attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village

4.22 MILES

The Shakers, a Protestant religious sect named for their habit of ecstatic spiritual dancing, once inhabited communities up and down the East Coast. They…

2. Maine State Building

6.96 MILES

Built with Maine granite and hardwoods, this architecturally striking building houses a collection of photos, artwork and other memorabilia relating to…

3. Poland Spring

7.12 MILES

The settlement of Poland Spring is famous for its mineral water, which is now sold throughout the USA. From the mid-19th century, Poland Spring was a…

4. Bradbury Mountain State Park

8.28 MILES

There are several miles of forested hiking trails here, including an easy 10-minute hike to a 485ft summit. It yields a spectacular view all the way to…

5. Desert of Maine

10.41 MILES

William Tuttle came to Freeport in 1797 to farm potatoes, but his deadly combination of clear-cutting and overgrazing caused enough erosion to expose the…

6. Sebago Lake State Park

11.49 MILES

This 1500-acre park is a popular and scenic place to swim, picnic and camp on the way to Portland. Sebago Lake is Maine’s second-largest lake, at 45 sq…

7. Eartha

12.13 MILES

Geography boffins shouldn't miss a visit to the Garmin company – its lofty office atrium is home to a giant rotating globe named Eartha. Eartha has a…

8. Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park

14.5 MILES

Just outside Freeport, this park has 5 miles of easy hiking trails, including a scenic shoreline walk that skirts Casco Bay. To reach the park, take Bow…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "url": "usa/maine/sabbathday-lake-poland-spring/attractions/maine-wildlife-park/a/poi-sig/1538298/1324375",
  "position": "superzone"
}