The rare and exotic animal sale drew large crowds to the Lloyd Ex on Sept. 28.
The event brings people into the city to see, sell, and purchase rare and exotic animals.
“Rare and Exotic is a sale we host twice a year, and it is for any animals and lizards that are rare and exotic that people want to sell and see,” said Jackie Tomayer, general manager at the Lloydminster Agricultural Exhibition Association.
Tomayer says people from the surrounding region and extending up to eight hours away come to sell and purchase animals at the event.
She says there’s two classifications of animals event-goers will see.
“There’s things in boxes, those would be chickens, rabbits, budgies, ferrets, in the spring we had an emu,” said Tomayer. “Then in the other category are livestock that don’t fit in a box, goats, mini horses, lamas, those sorts of things.”
There was even an interesting animal-related incident Tomayer recounts.
“Many years ago, this was before any of our time here, when it was legal, there was a monkey that was in the sale at one point, and did escape. They had to phone wildlife and get him off the roof and collect him again,” she said.
Restrictions are something the event runs into when it comes to some rarer breeds.
“We do run into a few restrictions with reptiles and the Saskatchewan government,” Tomayer explained.
Even with restrictions, the event brings in some interesting animals.
“This year we have parrotlet, which are a small breed of parrot,” she said.
The event doesn’t have a big monetary kick-back for the ex but rather it has a big impact on the community.
“This is an event we host that doesn’t have a ton of monetary value to us but there’s a big value to our impact to our community,” said Tomayer.
Tomayer says the event is run by the up to 25 volunteers who help make it happen twice a year.
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