Woodland Park Zoo Press Release

SEATTLE - Here’s your chance for an exclusive opportunity to get a very special one-on-one, behind-the-scenes look at Woodland Park Zoo’s award-winning exhibits! A $500 donation will purchase the chance to see the zoo’s amazing animals up-close and a gourmet, catered lunch with one of our staff. Proceeds help fund the 2009 American Association of Zoo Keepers/International Congress of Zookeepers (AAZK/ICZ) conference, which is being hosted by Woodland Park Zoo. These two organizations provide education, outreach, and training for zookeepers locally and around the world to ensure top-notch care for the animals in their care.

There are limited slots available for each tour. Each tour is for one person. All tours must be booked and taken prior to May 1, 2008.

The Follow the Keeper program offers five different areas of the zoo to explore:

African Savanna: Roam the vast and wild award-winning African Savanna exhibit with a zookeeper, shovel and rake in hand! Make a bed in the barn for an oryx; cut up carrots for a gazelle; toss worms to the birds in the Savanna Aviary, and feed apples to the gaping mouth of a hungry hippo. Find out about the secret lives of zebra, giraffe and antelope. Learn what it takes to care for the amazing animals at the zoo. Mornings on the African Savanna can be an astounding experience. Be sure to bring your camera!

Northern Trail: Help a keeper clean up after the elk and find out interesting facts about these majestic creatures. You will also help clean the snow leopard exhibit and meet the zoo’s magnificent ambassador to its wild Asian cousins. Learn about the newest information on the plight of the wolf and the obstacles these animals face in the wild. In this fun, fact-filled morning, you will get to meet the arctic foxes, find out interesting facts about animals like porcupine, snowy owl, otters, mountain goats, and, of course, the mighty grizzly bear, as well as other North American animals of the north.

Tropical Rain Forest: Come and enjoy the behind-the-scenes workings of a keeper’s life in the award-winning Tropical Rain Forest. Explore the wonderful world of the tiny golden lion tamarin monkey, the small tropical cat, the ocelot, and the largest species of cat in the Americas, the jaguar. We will clean, feed, train and provide enrichment for the animals. See what it’s like to work with these wonderful creatures and be part of the team of keepers that makes the Tropical Rain Forest part of their lives.

Night Exhibit: See bats in a whole new light! Spend the morning with 61 different animals and a Night Exhibit zookeeper and watch as the day fades to night. See the animals begin to stir as dusk gradually becomes night. Hear the sounds of the night as they awaken. For the first two hours, the exhibits are lit while the enclosures are cleaned and the animals fed. The next two hours are dedicated to feeding 16 species of animals their morning diets, observing animals, making enrichment items and preparing diets for the day.

Day Exhibit: Wonder what life is like behind the scenes at Woodland Park Zoo? Come take part in a keeper’s life in the Day Exhibit where keepers care for reptiles, amphibians and a mammal or two. Bring your camera for a rare look at our successful breeding and conservation programs. We guarantee you’ll be surprised and amazed by what you see and learn!