The Weyburn Therapeutic Animal Park was originally built on the grounds of the Saskatchewan Hospital in the 1970's. It was created by a group of dedicated hospital maintenance workers for the enjoyment of the hospital residents. It housed mainly farm animals that the residents were familiar with, giving them a sense of home during their hospital stay. Eventually the Saskatchewan Hospital became Souris Valley Extended Care Home and the Animal Park began growing in popularity with both the hospital patients and the community.

In 1985, Don Sealy took over taking care of the Animal Park. He, his family and various volunteers have worked hard to keep the Animal Park thriving and growing, adding a children's play area in honour of his Dad, Frank Sealy. Frank, along with many of the other residents, loved watching the animals and children enjoying the park.

In 2005, the Souris Valley Extended Care Home was demolished and Tatagwa was built. The Therapeutic Animal Park got a new home across from Tatagwa View. A lot of work and many long hours were put in, with the help of many great volunteers.

However, Sealey has recently passed the torch on to a Board of Directors, who are now working very hard to keep his dream going.

“With having a group of people we’re able to get so much more done, and we’re able to keep up with everything versus when it was Don trying to do everything by himself, it ends up being too much for one person, so with all of us we’ll be able to keep everything organized and we’ll just keep growing and keep the park going with the same direction that Don always wanted it to be,” explained Vince Sheldon, Media Director for the Therapeutic Animal Park.

And next month the Animal Park Board is planning the first ever Annual General Meeting for the park, with everyone in the community welcome to attend.

"We are hosting our first Annual General Meeting, since the Animal Park was taken over by the Board of Directors last fall," added Sheldon.

"We will have an AGM every year from now on, and this year we're hosting it at the Weyburn Credit Union Community Room. It's on February 20th at 7pm. It will probably end up being a farely quick meeting with everyone introducing themselves. You can meet the Board of Directors. We'll go over how the park will be run in the future and what we've been doing over the winter," said Sheldon.

For more information, and to contact the Board of Directors, feel free to visit the Weyburn Therapeutic Animal Park Facebook Page.