Innisfail's Discovery Wildlife Park has come to the aid of the flood stricken Calgary Zoo and it was a “once in a lifetime experience.”
Local zoon owner Doug Bos says he got a call from the popular Calgary attraction asking if they could borrow Innisfail's cat crates and whether they could lend their expertise as well.
“We loaded up our cat crates and three of us went down there … and helped them move lions and tigers. We were there until three o'clock the next morning,” said Bos. “There were 12 big cats to move and we were moving cats as the river was rising and rising and when we moved the last cat the water was ten feet away from the cat exhibit door. I think that's a once in a lifetime experience.”
Two days later the Calgary Zoo called again, asking about extra hay, because the supplies in Calgary were all wet. “They came up and picked up our hay and then we also took in a bald eagle that was stressed that we could take care of.”
Bos says the infrastructure damage there is bad and he doesn't know how long it'll be before things are back to normal.
Wildlife Discovery Park continued to help by taking three school tours unable to visit the Calgary Zoo. “Those kids were pretty appreciative,” said Bos, who also agreed to accept visitors with Calgary Zoo season's passes until it reopens following flood recovery.
“I can't believe how many people are coming up from Calgary. We've already had over 200 visitors with Calgary Zoo season passes. Way more than I expected. But it gives us way more exposure in Calgary,” said Bos.
“Business is good despite the rainy spring. We've got a nice surprise coming up, which I can't tell you about, and our Night at the Zoo campout on July 27 is already pretty close to full,” he said. “It's a cool campout. People camp out in their RVs, right here, and we have a special tour and bring a bear, and other animals, to the campfire and the kid's get to feed them. Last year people didn't go to bed until three o'clock in the morning. Our furthest visitor (for the campout) last year came from Idaho and they're booked to come again this year.”
Bos says, however, “We still don't have any lions. Maybe this fall. We would take cougars too. But we still have our tigers and jaguars.
“New additions include an orphan bear and two orphan racoons. And we got a new camel, a replacement for our riding camel, but he's not broke to ride yet,” he added. “He's still kind of young so we'll probably do that next winter. But boy, he's a really friendly camel. And we've got a new picnic shelter.”
Bos says the best way to keep up with what's happening at the park is to join or check out their Facebook page, since it will have the most current information about exhibits and events.
