It’s not every day you get asked to name someone else’s kid. But Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is inviting the public to help name theirs – a mountain goat kid, born May 29 in the Free-Roaming Area.
The female kid was born to mom Bailey, 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.
Bailey was the smallest. Now she’s a mom herself and caring for the youngster like a veteran.
The kid is in good health, say keepers who are monitoring the pair closely. Weighing an estimated 20 pounds, she follows Bailey everywhere and is very comfortable with the rest of the herd.
Now the park is asking visitors to help choose a name for the fluffy little kid from a slate of names selected by keepers for their reference to Northwest places or wildlife. Those names are:
- Brinnon – a town along the eastern edge of the Olympic peninsula
- Briar – a general term for prickly, rambling shrubs
- Nettle – a plant found in many parts of the Free-Roaming Area
Fans can vote on the name until midnight July 21. Results will be announced July 22.
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“We’re excited to celebrate the first successful mountain goat kid born in 15 years,” said Marc Heinzman, zoological curator. “And it’s even more special since we’ve watched Bailey grow from a kid herself to now being a mother.”
Guests can try to spot Bailey and her kid 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.
