Willow Park Zoo expanding its services

The Willow Park Zoo is currently taking big steps toward expanding its services and becoming more than just a zoo. 

“We want to revitalize it,” said Troy Cooper, the zoo director. “Bring in more classes, new animals and make it a staple of Cache Valley. We’d really like to have students from USU come share their talents, music, dancing or whatever — and we’ll provide a venue for them.”

Although Cooper acknowledges that it will take some time, the expansion of the zoo will attract people for more reasons than to see the animals.

“A large majority of people that come to the zoo say ‘yeah I remember when my grandparents use to bring me here,’” Cooper said. “We want to give it a face-lift because a lot of this stuff has been here for three generations.”

Cooper said he is happy with the progress that the zoo is making.

“We did a float in the Utah State homecoming parade,” Cooper said. “We’d never done that before.”

Barbara Tew, the education director, has also been working hard at revitalizing and bringing new attractions and patrons to the zoo.

“We’re making progress,” Tew said. “We’re starting to spruce things back up. We’re almost to the point where we can be AZA certified -- which is amazing. They’re really tough to get in to and we’re almost to that point.”

Tew said that being AZA certified would make Willow Park Zoo part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. She said this achievement would show the hard work and progress that the staff and volunteers have done in the last four years -- since the zoo was almost closed for good.

Tew said that for the first time ever, the zoo is also bringing schools outside of Cache Valley to go on tours and field trips to the zoo.

“We’ve had a couple classes from Ogden come in,” Tew said. “That’s never happened before. We’re trying to get schools from Ogden, Brigham City, Southern Idaho, and Bear Lake. We bring them in here to see the animals and they learn about them here.”