Mothers' Day with baby animals too
EATONVILLE, Wash. – It’s baby season at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. And just in time for Mother’s Day, two newborn bison calves are taking their first spindly legged walks through the wildlife park’s 435-acre Free-Roaming Area. Two newborn lambs are sticking close to their mothers on the hillsides.
More births are expected this spring and summer among Northwest Trek’s bison, elk and caribou herds. Spring also is a great time to be on the lookout for Canada geese goslings, ducklings and deer fawns from a seat in a comfortable tram as it wends its way through the Free-Roaming Area.
The wildlife park’s signature tram tour, narrated by a naturalist-driver, is free with admission or membership. The tour lasts about 45 minutes as it travels through meadows and forests, passing lakes, ponds and stands of soaring evergreen trees.
“Baby season is always enjoyable because there’s the anticipation of something new each day,” said Head Keeper Ed Cleveland. “It’s also fun to watch the newborns as they grow, sticking very close to their mothers at first and later gaining stronger legs and more confidence and venturing a bit farther away.”
With a glorious forecast for the coming weekend – and Mother’s Day on Sunday – this is a great time to make plans for a family visit to Northwest Trek.
The Free-Roaming Area is home to those herds of bison, elk and caribou, plus bighorn sheep, moose, deer and other animals that wander at will through the gorgeous landscape.
In addition to taking the tram tour, guests can walk paved pathways through the forest to natural habitats that are home to two adorable grizzly bear cubs, two American black bears, wolves, foxes, a cougar, Canada lynx, a bobcat, river otters, beavers, and other animals. All are viewable from up-close platforms or walkways.
And if the human kids need to run off a little energy, Kids’ Trek is the perfect nature-inspired play area for children from toddlers to tweens. A visit to Kids’ Trek also is free with admission or membership to the wildlife park.
For the adventurous, there’s the Zip Wild complex of zip line/challenge courses and the premier Keeper Adventure Tour, in which guests take an off-road ride into the Free-Roaming Area. The fee for each comes with full-day admission to Northwest Trek.
For information on pricing and reservations for Zip Wild, go to nwtrek.org/discover/zip-wild.
For information on pricing and reservations for the Keeper Adventure Tour, go to nwtrek.org/visit/tours/keeper-adventure-tours.
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Northwest Trek, accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, is a 725-acre zoological park dedicated to conservation, education and recreation by displaying, interpreting and researching native Northwest wildlife and their natural habitats. The wildlife park, a facility of Metro Parks Tacoma, is located 35 miles southeast of Tacoma off State Highway 161.
Media Contacts
Whitney DalBalcon, 253-404-3637; 253-278-6343 or whitney.dalbalcon@pdza.org
Kris Sherman, 253-226-6718 or kris.sherman@pdza.org