Event: Return of Wolf Awareness Day to Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
By Joe Yachanin
Cleveland, OH – Northern Trek is the place to be for a howlin’ good time on Saturday, October 15 for the return of Wolf Awareness Day!
Bring your whole pack to the Wolf Lodge in Northern Trek for special wolf-themed activities from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids can make a wolf craft and have fun learning the facts about this often misunderstood animal.
Visit the Wolf Conservation Station, where you can hear the latest news on wolf populations in the wild, learn what you can do to help these protected species and find out how to become a ZooParent by “adopting” a wolf through the Cleveland Zoological Society.
The Zoo has six Mexican gray wolves, also known as “lobos.” Mexican gray wolves are the smallest, rarest and most genetically distinct of all gray wolf species in North America. The Zoo’s wolves, Catori, Sarita, Una, Aprecia, Nancita and Mitzi, are all sisters. They came to Cleveland from the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center in Missouri in 2009.
“Wolf Awareness Day is a great opportunity to teach kids a conservation lesson about an endangered species that’s close to home,” said Zoo Marketing & PR Manager Sue Allen. “These aren’t animals from an exotic locale, they are native to the U.S. and are in real danger of becoming extinct in the wild.”
Current estimates put the number of Mexican gray wolves in the wild at about 50. After being hunted to near extinction in the 1970s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a reintroduction project in 1998 in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. In the wild, wolves eat primarily elk, deer, rabbit and other small mammals.
The Wolf Lodge is also home to the Zoo’s bald eagle, beaver and several species of North American fish.
Northeast Ohio’s most visited year-round attraction, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is $11 per person, $8 for kids ages 2 to 11 and free for children younger than 2 and Zoo members. Parking is free. Located at 3900 Wildlife Way, the Zoo is easily accessible from Interstates 71, 90 and 480.
To learn more, visit clemetzoo.com or call (216) 661-6500.
To view Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/zoo*****************************************************************
This article is from the Zoo and Aquarium Visitor website.
Photo courtesy of Jean Ossorio
