INNISFAIL – Discovery Wildlife Park is open for the season.
Staff have been busy preparing the park, which officially opened May 1.
“We always open on May 1 and our campground opens on the May long weekend,” said Serena Bos, head zookeeper and animal trainer.
The campground was a new feature added to the park last year.
Many families were out at the park to enjoy Mother’s Day.
“It’s an honour to be able to celebrate with so many moms and make their day special,” said Bos.
“There’s lots of families out and so far everything has been on par and what we expect to see,” she added, noting some of the changes and preparations they’ve done to be ready for opening day.
“We have a new entrance to our bear presentation area and we have a brand new washroom facility, which was needed,” said Bos. “It’s nice to have our own washroom facility here.
“We also have two brand new cabins in our campground so people can rent a cabin and camp if they don’t have their own trailer,” she added. “We have a new registration booth for our campground this year too.
“We’re looking forward to all of our new campers this year,” she said.
Discovery Wildlife Park has several enclosures with a variety of wildlife on display including bears, lions, jaguars, wolves, beavers and monkeys, among others.
This year, they have a new addition to the park.
“We have a brand new yak named Yakidy,” said Bos, noting the month-old premature yak was rejected by its mother and ended up at the park when an Alberta Yak farmer contacted them.
“We’re pretty excited about her,” she added.
Bos said it was a busy season last year with about 40,000 visitors.
They are planning for another successful year that will include Father’s Day in June and Zoofest in August, among other events.
With the new changes and additions this year they hope to welcome many more visitors from all over Canada, noted Bos.
The park is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week until Thanksgiving weekend.
