Winter Gifts for the Animals Will be January 9th at Potter Park Zoo

By Billie Harris

Lansing, MI - Join your furry and feathered friends at Potter Park Zoo on Saturday, January 9 as they receive their edible holiday presents!

This special animal enrichment event, Winter Gifts for the Animals, will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

During the event, guests will notice some unusual items in several of the animal exhibits as zoo staff delivers recycled Wonderland-of-Lights trees and special holiday treats inside boxes to many of the zoo’s excited inhabitants. The animals will be out and active as they dig into their holiday treats to discover the surprises inside.

“Winter Gifts for the Animals is a great event for the animals and is a fun activity for families as well,” said Animal Enrichment Coordinator Jill Garnett. “Visitors will get to see things they do not usually see in a typical zoo visit, like what a yak can do with a holiday tree or what a mandrill home looks like after their presents are opened!”

The holiday treats provided serve as both a special gift to the animals during the holiday season and an enrichment program. Potter Park Zoo provides a variety of these opportunities for its animals throughout the year. These programs are designed to create a more stimulating environment for the animals and elicit some of their natural behaviors.

Winter Gifts for the Animals is free to the public. Parking is also free to all event attendees. To find more information on this event, please visit www.potterparkzoo.org.

Interested in helping out with enrichment events like Winter Gifts for the Animals? Stop by the zoo between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, January 9 to find out more about how to volunteer for some of the many educational programs offered at the zoo, during Docent Recruitment Day.

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, winter hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (517) 483-4222 or visit www.potterparkzoo.org  

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