Winter in the Willows
If the death-like cold of the winter months when most Logan residents turn up the heater, shut all the doors and fall into a state of semi-hibernation, there are a few who don’t have that luxury – the animals at Willow Park Zoo.
For an entrance fee of 50 cents, the Willow Park Zoo offers a range of animal exhibits open to the public from 9 a.m. until dusk seven days a week. Willow Park aims to give Logan residents a close view of animals normally found within the wild, some of which come from Logan’s own animal population.
Since the zoo’s establishment in 1970, the nine acre lot has expanded its structure to meet the demands of its ever-increasing number of inhabitants. Currently, the park is home to approximately 400 animals, including 100 species of birds and 12 species of mammals. Yet Willow Park’s animal population has expanded greatly since its small beginnings as a pigeon exhibit and now provides spectators a closer look at elk, coyotes, bobcats and more.
However, winter at Willow Park offers a considerable challenge in providing for the needs of these species in Logan’s freezing temperatures. As Rod Wilhelm, the zoo’s curator explained, trying to keep the water running is probably the main challenge during the winter. Logan’s northern climate also requires the transport of some animals, such as wallabies, tortoises and lemurs, to a warmer vicinity during the winter months.
Those that remain at the zoo are able to tolerate the foul weather, Wilhelm said. The zoo’s winter exhibits consist mainly of a number of different bird species including ravens, hawks, ducks, peacocks, swans, vultures and even the nation’s symbol, the bald eagle. Seeing the birds actively engaged in their environment offers a particularly educational experience, Wilhelm explained.
“When you see the eagles up close, you can learn to appreciate them. You learn to recognize them in the wild,” Wilhelm said.
The bald and golden eagles within the zoo are actually placed there because of injury or circumstance that makes them incapable to survive in the wild. However, only a section of the zoo’s animals actually come from the wild. Some of the animals are born within the zoo while others are privately bred. The major source of new animals brought to Willow Park are from zoos worldwide. An international database helps zoos search to find whatever specimen they need. The zoos will often raise the animals in a cooperative effort to help the species’ population within the wild.
“Zoos make recommendations on best possible pairings,” Wilhelm said. “Those pairings are based on relations; some aren’t compatible with others.”
Compatibility has a great significance in introducing these new animals into their new habitat. The process can be devastating or possibly fatal to the new arrival if done incautiously.
As Wilhelm explains, because animals within the zoo have already claimed the territory within their surroundings, the animals will often consider the newcomers a threat to their environment and will even kill the animal in order to protect their claims. To avoid this conflict, the animals are given a new setting while the new animal is properly “introduced.”
These introductions become particularly important in designing areas for new animals to be placed. The layout of the zoo is currently changing to include a shed for the wallabies during winter, new enclosures in the center of the zoo, different elk and deer exhibits and preparations for the arrival of a porcupine in the spring.
With warmer weather on its way, the zoo awaits the arrival of many migrating birds in return from their winter journey. These birds actually account for 80 different wild species that live in Willow Park during fair weather. Other spring preparations can be seen in the elk, dropping their antlers recently in seasonal change.
One caution, as Wilhelm reminds, feeding the animals is a real threat to their diet and health. Though visitors are welcome to buy pellets for the wide variety of ducks, they are expected to refrain from feeding other animals on.
For those interested in learning more about the animals, the zoo offers a free “Evening at the Zoo” the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m.
-cynthiadiane@cc.usu.edu