Wilderness Trails Zoo is a 56-acre facility located in the county of Saginaw, Michigan. It is home to 200 animals representing 50 species such as red-tailed boa, African lion, American alligator, military macaw, dromedary camel, emu, capybara, grey wolf, zebra, red fox, ankole-watusi, ring-tailed lemur, blue-and-gold macaw, serval, and Indian peafowl.
On May 9th, 2021, the zoo announced that (0.0.2) red fox kits were born in April of the same year.
Wilderness Trails is in Frankenmuth, not Saginaw. Perhaps you're getting it confused with the Saginaw Children's Zoo, which, I must say, is leaps and bounds ahead of Wilderness Trails. The large carnivores at Wilderness Trails have very small cages for their species, and the otters have no more than a KIDDIE POOL to swim in!
On August 14th, 2022, the zoo announced they have acquired (0.0.4) American alligators named Tim, Peter, Clive, and Jeffery, a (0.0.1) iguana (species not specified) named Scoter, and (0.0.5) tortoises (species(s) not specified) named Bowser, Kyle, Burp, Beans, and Marris.
On September 4th, the zoo announced they acquired (0.0.6) American alligators named Benny, Buck, Crock, Phantom, Rose, and Sonic. Also on September 4th, they acquired (0.0.3) African spurred tortoises named Frizbee, Kitty, and Ise.
It seems the zoo has acquired many new species including, blackbuck, addax, ostrich, yak, american badgers, binturong, african penguins, and much more! There’s also a new zebra foal.
After a quick visit today, a few more amazing additions!
• 0.0.1+ maned wolves are now at the zoo
• 0.0.1+ Spotted Hyenas haves been gained
• 0.0.3+ Przewalski’s Horse have been gained
• I saw the baby blackbuck and binturong
• they now have mountain coatis!!!
After a quick visit today, a few more amazing additions!
• 0.0.1+ maned wolves are now at the zoo
• 0.0.1+ Spotted Hyenas haves been gained
• 0.0.3+ Przewalski’s Horse have been gained
• I saw the baby blackbuck and binturong
• they now have mountain coatis!!!
I already suspect that they came from the private trade, given how anal the P-Horse SSP seems to be with regard to placement. I have access to the 2020 P-Horse studbook, and while one or two facilities outside of the AZA house P-Horses in it, they very noticeably do not hold breeding herds.
On February 11th, the zoo announced that 3+ domestic cows (breed(s) not specified, though one is a Highland cow) and 2+ goats (breed(s) not specified) were born which are on exhibit.
On July 14th, the zoo announced they acquired 2 black-and-white ruffed lemurs (one of which seems to be a black-and-white/red-ruffed hybrid) which are on exhibit.
On July 15th, the zoo announced their original founders (Bill and Lynette) retired as a new Director/Owner of Wilderness Trails, Jeremiah Tietz, was hired. The zoo also announced their previous lead supervisor is now the Head of Operations, and they hired a new Community Outreach Director.
On November 14th, the zoo announced that the binturong was sexed as (0.1) and later named Bella Lil'B Bearcat. The zoo also announced they started construction on a new exhibit for the binturong.
On November 27th, it was reported that the zoo acquired 2 fishing cats, 2 red-ruffed lemurs, 2+ Egyptian fruit bats, a tayra, a red-rumped agouti, 2+ parrots (species(s) not specified), a Eurasian eagle-owl, a crow/raven hybrid, and a violet turaco from the now-closed Shell Factory Nature Park in Florida.
The zoo is now a holder for the Eastern Aardwolf. I don’t know where they sourced it, as there’s only 1 and I learned about his today. USDa lists 1 in august, and I did hear they might acquire them in the future. This is a great development, I hope the exhibit can be ethical for this wonderful species, as all recent exhibits have been a great improvement for the zoo.
The zoo is now a holder for the Eastern Aardwolf. I don’t know where they sourced it, as there’s only 1 and I learned about his today. USDa lists 1 in august, and I did hear they might acquire them in the future. This is a great development, I hope the exhibit can be ethical for this wonderful species, as all recent exhibits have been a great improvement for the zoo.
Aardwolves are pretty distinct animals and we already knew they were being acquired by multiple zoos recently, so pretty likely it's an accurate holding... if that's why you were asking.
Keepers telling me about them acquiring aardwolves, about 2 months ago. Pretty sure there might of been a post on the directors instagram with them too.
After doing a bit of digging, it seems the director, Jeremiah Tietz, also runs that exotic pet store Saginaw tropics (or something similar), and he’s the one getting aardwolves in zoos, along with all these other crazy imports. His exotic pet shop, also aquired three toed sloths, tayras, african wild cats, addax, American badgers, civets, palawan bearcats, ratels, red ruffled lemurs, etc. I wonder how this could follow…
I’m gonna be a killjoy and say that if the director also owns an exotic pet shop, full of animals that most certainly should not be pets, that… does not reflect well upon this facility.
I’m gonna be a killjoy and say that if the director also owns an exotic pet shop, full of animals that most certainly should not be pets, that… does not reflect well upon this facility.
To be fair, this zoo also does not reflect well upon to a pet store
As I believe I am the only zoo chatter to visit after the pandemic and new director, I am happy to say the zoo has improved. The worst enclosures (otter, coati, bears, tigers) have been repurposed or renovated, and all of the newer enclosures are ethical. I think the facility is going in the right direction, as I have seen the plans and my only issue will soon be removed (new enclosures for black bears, lions, tigers and removal of syrian brown bears).
