What a year this has been! Northwest Trek Wildlife Park won top honors in Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ 2021 Exhibit Award for Eagle Passage, head-started and released hundreds of endangered northern leopard frogs back into the wild, welcomed a new moose calf and celebrated the birth of a mountain goat kid, among so many other moments. Thanks for being here on this journey with us. Enjoy our best photos of 2021, taken by staff photographer Katie Cotterill. Northwest Trek won a national award for the Eagle Passage exhibit. Northwest Trek welcomed a five-month-old moose calf named Birch to the …

Just in time to burn off some of that winter break energy, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is opening daily for a week at the end of December (Dec. 26-Jan. 2) for the return of “Winter Wildland.” Guests to the wildlife park are invited to watch in delight as animals play with holiday-themed treats and enrichments. Guests can walk the paved pathways laced with winter magic and decorations and see native Northwest animals like bald eagles, grizzly bears, gray wolves and river otters. For weeks, Northwest Trek staff have been busy as Santa’s elves, making festive cardboard cutouts and wrapped gifts, …

A moose is on the loose. Quick, look for his ears popping out from behind the ferns. A five-month-old moose calf named Birch ambled into Northwest Trek Wildlife Park’s 435-acre Free-Roaming Area Wednesday and will make his public debut this weekend. Birch arrived in early November from Alaska Zoo and has been adjusting to his new Eatonville home off-exhibit. He recently met his new buddy Aspen, a 5-year-old female moose. “We’re delighted to welcome another generation of moose and provide a new companion for Aspen,” said zoological curator Marc Heinzman. Aspen will teach Birch how to be a moose here …

Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is now home to a healthy, five-month-old Alaskan moose calf named Birch. He will soon join Aspen, the wildlife park’s 5-year-old resident female moose, in the 435-acre Free-Roaming Area alongside Roosevelt elk, American bison, trumpeter swans, caribou, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. “It’s exciting to welcome another generation of moose to Northwest Trek, and to provide a new companion for Aspen,” said zoological curator Marc Heinzman. “Once Birch grows into adulthood, he will be a thrilling sight for our visitors as he grows his rack of antlers each year.” Birch arrived at Northwest Trek from the Alaska …

It was the calm after the storm– a beautiful, sunny day following a weekend of heavy rain– and Lily and Reed were going on their first date. They were set up by people who deeply cared for them, and everyone was hoping they’d hit it off. That’s probably how their meet-cute story would start… if they were humans. But, in this case, Lily and Reed are trumpeter swans at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. But, their story is just as sweet. After all, there’s a reason swans symbolize love. Swans are one of the few species known for being monogamous for …

Graceful arched antlers. Soft fuzzy velvet. And then – a touch of deep, blood-filled red. Welcome to the rut, that breeding season for animals like the bison, elk, caribou, bighorn sheep and deer that call our Free-Roaming Area home. If you know anything about rut, you’ll know that for Roosevelt elk and others in the deer family, it means sparring with huge antler clashes to vie for herd dominance. But there’s a less audible part of the rut that’s just as visually striking – and is essential to all that antler clashing. Losing velvet. Velvet (in animal terms) is the …

TACOMA/EATONVILLE– As a powerful heat wave hits the greater Tacoma area with temperatures nearing 100-degrees, keepers at both Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash. and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Eatonville, Wash. are finding ways to keep the animals cool. Like many kids on a hot day, the 3-year-old grizzly bears at Northwest Trek plunge, splash and wrestle in water. The bears have a 7-feet-deep pool all to themselves! “We love watching the bears enjoy their pool,” said keeper Haley Withers. “When the temperature is this high, we give them constant access to the water.” Withers also ensures …

Human athletes might be battling it out for medals at the Olympic Games in Japan this month, but here at Northwest Trek, we have our own incredible athletes to celebrate: our animals! Who can leap the furthest? Climb the highest? Who’s the fastest swimmer, the cleanest diver, the most agile? Check out our “gold medal” list for the winners – we might even have a couple of honorable mentions for effort! Climbing – Mountain goat No contest here: mountain goats are excellent climbers, hence the name. Swimming – Beaver They may not win the speed prize, but anyone who can …

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 …