Enrichment For Animals and Visitors at Potter Park Zoo

By Billie Harris 

Lansing, MI - Summer fun at the Potter Park Zoo continues on Sunday July 26, when the zoo will host Just Chillin’ with the Animals Summer Enrichment event from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The fun-filled family event gives visitors a chance to see how the animals keep their cool during the long, hot days of summer with special summertime treats. From fish-popsicles for the otters to watermelon for meerkats, spectators will have a chance to see the animals explore some of our favorite foods of the summer.

Not only are the Chillin’ with the Animals activities fun for visitors to watch, but they also provide necessary exercise and stimulation -- or “enrichment” -- for the zoo’s animals. The enrichment activities help to enhance the care that keepers provide throughout the year by creating a more stimulating environment for the animals and eliciting some of their natural behaviors such as exploration, foraging, locomotion, social interaction, manipulating objects or simply playing. 

“For fun, engaging encounters that the whole family will enjoy, there’s no place like Potter Park Zoo in summer 2009,” said Zoo Society Director Diane McNeil.

To find more information on this event, please visit the Zoo’s Facebook page or www.potterparkzoo.org. Zoo admission is $4 for residents, $10 for non-residents, $2 for kids up to 16, and free for kids 3 and under. Parking is $2 for Ingham County residents and $4 for non-residents. Wagon rentals are available.

Potter Park Zoo is located at 1301 S. Pennsylvania Ave. within Potter Park along the Red Cedar River in Lansing, Michigan. The zoo is open daily year-round, summer hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (517) 483-4222 or visit www.potterparkzoo.org

To view Potter Park Zoo's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to:  http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-588-Potter_Park_Zoo