Wildwood Wildlife Park Zoo & Safari Thoughts on Wildwood Wildlife Park

Valentinoamor

Valentinoamor

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Wildwood Wildlife Park is a zoo located in Northern Wisconsin, it claims to be the second largest zoo in Wisconsin, but it is not accredited by the AZA.

I've been the Wildwood Wildlife Park twice, but I haven't been there in several years, so I have not be able to thoroughly analyze the zoo. For being an non-AZA zoo, they manage to get some nice species. They've got many Blue Duikers, Oryx, Addax, Wildebeest. They also have Striped Hyena, at least last time I was there. The Grison and Paca are also something you don't see often.

Some of the species don't have nice exhibits, I know they had wolves in corn crib enclosures for a while, as well as small exhibits for their tigers. Many of the animals are on concrete as well.

The zoo expands rapidly, I have not seen the safari area, plus all the new areas down by the flamingos and lemurs.

This zoo has so much potential, I don't know why they don't use all the money to improve existing exhibits instead of making existing ones better.
 
I haven't visited yet, but hopefully I will next summer. I hope to someday visit every zoo in Wisconsin (with the possible exception of Beaver Springs Park Aquarium).
 
My review of Wildwood from 2014:

Wildwood Wildlife Park – This is the type of place where there are a hundred bottles of “Bear Juice” that you can purchase for one dollar a bottle and then feed to 3 pacing American Black Bears in a cement and chain-link cage. Red Kangaroos share an exhibit with Llamas and Helmeted Guineafowl ensuring that 3 continents are showcased at the same time. There are cats such as Bengal Tigers (including the now ubiquitous white one), Canadian Lynx, Bobcats, Servals, Cougars and surprisingly African Leopards (including a black one). Animal numbers are impressive (at least 4-5 Binturongs, 6-7 Grey Foxes, 10 North American Porcupines, 10 Alligator Snapping Turtles, etc). How does a zoo in northern Wisconsin obtain African Leopards, Binturongs, Striped Hyenas, Blue Duikers, 3 species of porcupine, 7-8 species of pheasant and 4 species of lemur? It is essentially a rather astonishing collection of 700+ animals in mainly nasty-looking exhibits. Lots of small enclosures that look like this:

http://www.zoochat.com/1516/baton-rouge-zoo-debrazzas-guenon-corn-207583/

Or slightly larger ones (for animals like bears and wolves) like this:

http://www.zoochat.com/1516/baton-rouge-zoo-sulawesi-macaque-cage-207544/

There has been an attempt to inch towards progress as the “Giraffe Serengeti Habitat Area” opened just this year and a huge giraffe barn for 3 individuals dominates the landscape. There are more developments in that modern part of the zoo but the ghastly cages haphazardly placed all over the grounds leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. Worst of all is the Animal Encounters Area near the front of the zoo with its two rows of at least a dozen cages of small mammals. I had two staff members ask me what animal I would like to hold, ranging from a baby coati, prehensile-tailed porcupine, opossum, rabbit, kinkajou, etc. I declined but other visitors made their choice and the unfortunate animal was then hauled out of its slumber for a few minutes, petted and cooed over, and then placed back until the next request. Ugh.
 
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