February 29th is the hoppiest day of the year! Frogs, cats, goats, and more. We’re celebrating our leaping and jumping creatures this Leap Day. Cougar Cougars are powerful runners, leapers, and climbers. They can leap higher than any other mammal and have been recorded making a vertical jump of over 20 feet from a stationary position. Look for Carly, the cougar on the cat loop. BOBCATS Bobcats are also impressive jumpers. They can leap up to 10 feet high in the air. Look for bobcats Tanner and Tahoma on the cat loop. FROGS Some frogs can jump over 20 times their body …

As another year ends, we reflect on the special moments Northwest Trek Wildlife Park had the privilege of being a part of in 2023. We raised and released hundreds of endangered northern leopard frogs into the wild, provided a new home to a hoary marmot, and helped Tacoma students develop empathy for wildlife through our award-winning Wildlife Champions program. Enjoy some of our favorite photos from this year, taken by staff photographer Katie Cotterill. Brothers gotta hug! Grizzly bears Huckleberry and Hawthorne hug during a wrestling play session. Mountain goat Klahhane sticks out his tongue. An elk calf stays close …

Nettle nestled herself along the steep hillside within Northwest Trek’s 435-acre Free-Roaming Area, as if she knew it was time for her annual exam. It’s an easy adventure for a one-year-old mountain goat – and not so simple for those who care for her. But Veterinarian Dr. Allison Case, Veterinary Technician Tracy and Keeper Deanna are used to doing what it takes to ensure the animals at Northwest Trek receive exceptional care. “It’s a very physical job,” Dr. Case said. After Keeper Deanna tries to entice Nettle off the hillside with some food, Dr. Case darts her with an anesthetic. …

Zookeepers and the animals they love What’s the animal you feel most deeply inside? The one you connect with, love, relate to, share traits with? For National Zookeeper Week 2021, we asked our longest-tenured keepers that very same question. Then our incredible staff photographer Katie Cotterill took portraits of both keeper AND animal, superimposing them in her camera as a double-exposure shot. The results are magic. (Curious about how she did it? Scroll to the bottom to find out.) Deanna, with Ellinor the mountain goat   Miranda, with Ahma the wolverine   Wendi, with Yakima the golden eagle   Dave, …

Welcome, Nettle! After a week of public voting, fans chose this plant as the name for the new mountain goat kid, born May 29 at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. The name was one of a slate of three names chosen by keepers after Northwest plants or locations, per park tradition. Nettle is a common plant found in many parts of the Free-Roaming Area, where all the park’s mountain goats live. Brinnon is a town along the eastern edge of the Olympic peninsula, while Briar is a general term for prickly, rambling shrubs. Over 900 votes came in online during the …

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 …

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 …

She’s named after a mountain, but she’s the smallest of the herd. As her human care team watched closely, little mountain goat Ellinor – one of ten kids cared for at the wildlife park after recent mountain goat relocation efforts in the Olympic Mountains – trotted out to the Free-Roaming Area Wednesday morning to meet the rest of the Northwest Trek herd. There to meet her were the five yearling goat kids who’d found a home here after last year’s relocation project, and an older nanny. And while there was some initial surprise all round, it was soon clear that …

Examining three mountain goat kids in a row? That’s all in a day’s work for a wildlife park that’s looking after 10 goat kids until they go to their new homes. “All right,” said Dr. Allison Case, Northwest Trek veterinarian, checking off her notes. “We’ve done weight, we’ve done blood samples, fecal samples, dewormer, fly spray, vaccinations, hoof trim, antibiotic. We just have the rest of the physical and we’re done.” The goat kid with the yellow ear tag sleeping peacefully under anesthetic was just the first of three to have exams that day in the Northwest Trek veterinary clinic, …

Regional zoos partner with agencies on Olympics mountain goat relocation; 10 kids cared for at Northwest Trek before finding new homes. Eatonville, Wash. – Ten fluffy white mountain goat kids paused halfway up a log behind the scenes this week at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. Then, as one, they scampered outside to explore. The kids were making history in two ways: They were the largest group of mountain goats the Eatonville wildlife park has ever cared for. But more importantly, the kids represented another successful collaboration by Northwest Trek, regional zoos and government agencies to relocate mountain goats out of …