It’s a cold morning at Northwest Trek – a hushed, frozen stillness rising off the lake. But it’s not bothering Fern at all. The black bear has her head down, wrenching a branch off a fir tree to pad out her winter den. As she does, keeper Angela Gibson looks on in satisfaction: this is no ordinary holiday tree. It’s a piece of enrichment, carefully designed to improve Fern’s life – and it’s definitely working. “Enrichment is about providing the animals with experiences where they can express their natural behaviors and desires,” explains Gibson. “It creates opportunities for the animals …

Mountain goat kids from the Olympics introduced to new home at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. A group of mountain goat kids scampered into the vast expanses of our 435-acre Free-Roaming Area Tuesday morning and began exploring their new home. There were five altogether. Four of the young goats – females Fairchild and Bailey and males Klahhane and Elwha – will remain at Northwest Trek where they can choose to roam through meadows, forested areas and rocky hillsides. The fifth eventually will move to another zoo. We are delighted to provide a permanent home for these mountain goat kids. We know …

Experiencing a Northwest Trek Virtual Field Trip   You could almost touch the anticipation. Twenty first-graders from Tacoma’s Roosevelt Elementary waved excitedly to the face on the big screen in the front of their room – and as teacher Kaylin Gasparach toggled with the screen windows, the face waved back. It was Wendi Mello, keeper at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, and as the class gasped, the owl on her arm slowly turned its head and blinked. Mello – and the owl – were taking the class on a raptor adventure full of science, learning and animals – a Northwest Trek …

The look on Tymbre Green’s face was irreplaceable. As she stared out into the wet green woods of the Northwest Trek gray wolf habitat, two wolves loped up and nosed around a fallen log. With swift precision, one snapped up something in her jaws and began to munch. It was a pumpkin – one that Tymbre herself had just hidden in the log with a keeper, while the wolves were safely behind the scenes. Even more impressive? It was a pumpkin that one of Tymbre’s classmates – now third-graders at the local Weyerhaeuser Elementary School in Eatonville – had planted …

For Veterinary Technician Week 2018, we’re not just celebrating our wonderful vet techs – we’re introducing them to you! Vet techs assist veterinarians in every aspect of animal health care, and they care deeply about our animals – often in very practical ways. We couldn’t do without them. Sara Dunleavy, full-time clinical veterinary technician at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park How long have you been a vet tech – and when did you begin at Northwest Trek? Sara: I’ve been a licensed veterinary technician for 12 years – and started here six months ago. What inspired you to do this work? …

Double the cubs, double the fun. So far, our grizzly bear cubs have been exploring their Northwest Trek habitat one at a time. Huckleberry enjoys hanging out by the pool, in the forest, and wherever he finds food. Hawthorne likes standing on the log over the pool. But this weekend, they’ll be sharing their home – with visitors sharing the fun. From Friday Oct. 12 you can see them both outside from 9:30-11:30am, and 1-3pm. Here’s a sneak peek at how our cubs play together!

When you’re nine months old – and a grizzly bear – the world is a pretty exciting place. It was 10am on his first day out in public, and Hawthorne the grizzly cub was having a wonderful adventure – every ten seconds. First he sniffed around his habitat a little, checking out what was new this morning. He nosed logs, flipped over a small branch, then picked it up and shook it. Then he galloped a complete lap of the space, backside jiggling, and ran right up his favorite perch – a log cantilevered over the small pool. “He can …

Hawthorne prefers fruit and meat. Huckleberry loves lettuce and butternut squash. But when you’re caring for two growing 125-pound grizzly cubs, the biggest challenge is just keeping them fed. Play, eat, repeat “They play hard and eat a lot,” says Angela Gibson, carnivore keeper, who’s been looking after the cubs nearly full-time since they arrived in August, along with fellow keeper Haley Withers. The cubs eat first thing in the morning, last thing at night and a midday snack – but they also forage during their outside public times on lettuce and fruit that Gibson hides around their habitat in …

Who could resist a buff-colored grizzly bear cub named Huckleberry? Or a chocolate-colored “brother” bear named Hawthorne? They’re the names chosen for our energetic, engaging cubs, who are ready to make their public debut on Thursday, Sept. 20. The two will be out in their forested habitat – one at a time – beginning at 9:30 a.m. Look for Hawthorne from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and Huckleberry from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. daily in their newly renovated – and cub-proofed – exhibit space. A bit of patience might be needed, though: The active, playful cubs run hard and …

NOTE: Survey now closed. Thanks for voting!   Will it be Hawthorne, Kenai or Sitka for the chocolate-colored grizzly bear cub from Alaska? Bandera, Glacier or Huckleberry for the buff-colored cub with darker-colored legs from Montana?   We want your help to name our two grizzly bear cubs that arrived last month after they were orphaned in the wild.   Can’t wait to see them? We haven’t set a date yet, but stay tuned: The cubs will soon make their public debuts in our forested grizzly bear habitat. And that’s when we’ll reveal the winning names.   Northwest Trek keepers suggested …