Northwest Trek’s springtime baby animal boom is on! A mountain goat kid, three elk calves and three bighorn sheep lambs were all born in May at the wildlife park and can be spotted in the 435-acre Free-Roaming Area. More animal births are still expected as well.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, the mountain goat kid was born to 3-year-old mom, Bailey. Zoological Curator Marc Heinzman said keepers are closely monitoring the new family.
“Keepers have seen the kid nursing and spending time moving around with its mother Bailey,” said Heinzman. “The pair is spending a lot of their time up on the hillside, but guests to the park may be able to spot them with their bright white coats.”
Bailey is one of five goat kids that arrived at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in fall 2018 under a multi-agency project to relocate non-native mountain goats from Washington’s Olympic Mountains to the North Cascades where their populations were depleted. Northwest Trek partnered with Woodland Park Zoo and Oregon Zoo to provide permanent homes to goat kids without known mothers.
Guests can try to spot the new animal families on a Wild Drive or Keeper Adventure Tour. The Wild Drive guided experience allows families and households to tour the stunning meadows and forests of the park’s Free-Roaming Area in a small caravan of cars, led in front and behind by park staff for everyone’s safety. The Keeper Adventure Tour allows visitors to board a Jeep and go off-road in that same Free-Roaming Area, allowing them to see any animals hidden in the forest.
The Free-Roaming Area is home to mountain goats, Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, American bison, caribou, bighorn sheep, trumpeter swans and a moose.
“Both of these experiences allow our guests to see our animals the way our keepers do – up close and in their natural habitats,” said Heinzman.