By: Anna Montaner
After two years without Boo at the Zoo, BC Wildlife Park has decided to not pick up this Halloween event until further notice. One of many events the park can not keep up with.
In a statement done on social media by Wildlife Park, the zoo explained the time to set up these events, compared to the turn up is no longer feasible. There is only five people responsible who must also continue maintaining park grounds and infrastructure.
As a non-profit organization and registered charity, the BC Wildlife Park relies on the number of people who visit the park and participate in the events hosted there.
In a press release early this year, Glenn Grant the executive director and general manager of the park, said the number of visitors where steadily going up, but the same could not be said when in came to open events like the prey birds show which require a separate ticket purchase.
The park entry tickets bought in 2021 compared to 2022 went from 80,000 to 100,000 last year, Grant hoped that there will be another increase for 2023.
The park was closed to the public weeks after the Covid-19 outbreak not being able to keep up with the demands of the province. Since BC Wildlife has had to find ways to bring people back in, a job that falls to Julie Ratcliffe the Marketing & Events Manager.
“We took 2021 as a warmup year, things were starting to open up again and any visitors we had were good, but for this year and next we need to see exponential growth which we’ll get by making people want to come in,” Ratcliffe said.
The marketing manager ultimately decided that focusing on Boo at the Park would take away from other events that could bring in more people.
“As much as I’ve enjoyed the event in the past, it was asking too much from us,” Ratcliffe said. “We also need to start setting up the Christmas nightlights which will take a lot of time.”
Ratcliffe added that they are seeing less education programs being booked. The motto of the park being “conservation through education” has been ongoing since it was first established in 1965, having met countless of students yearning to learn about the animals who live in their city.
The programs are designed in accordance with BC curriculum guidelines and allows for direct interaction with one or multiple animals, but when they introduced the Virtual education programs, many chose to no longer attend the park in person.
“I would say in the past year and a half we’ve had more virtual bookings than our in-house education ones. I like to see people still finding ways to learn about our animals, but nothing tops coming in and experiencing them yourself,” Ratcliffe said.
The importance of programs like these goes beyond education. It gets kids exited about making other visits with family and friends, which according to Ratcliffe, makes the return of visitors higher.
Jedd MacMillan is part of the team that puts together the education programs. He’s been at Wildlife for a couple of years and has enjoyed seeing the reaction kids have when interacting with the animals.
“I loved going to the Zoo as a kid, made my day, so I think by focusing on [kids] we will see a lot more people come to the events we host throughout the year,” MacMillan said.
This summer saw the reintroduction of the Country Wild concert in an effort to raise funds that would go towards accessibility upgrades at the park’s playground. The event took place on June 17 and was deemed a success by MacMillan.
“That night was great for us in terms of getting people in the park, I also noticed that the weeks after were busier that usual,” MacMillan said. “Might have been the fact that it was mid summer, but the event was promoted a lot.”
MacMillan believes that some of the low turnout might be due to difficulty in accessing the events. Glenn Grant in an interview with CFCJ mentioned making accessibility their priority in the park.
“A lot of the activities we have might not work for people who have sensory issues, and we need to focus on those smaller things people don’t think of right away when talking about accessibility,” Grant said.
Their new focus on accessibility an event that will be happening Dec 25th annual “Wildlights”, this year with over 1 million lights, has partnered with Cenucks Autism Network to create a sensory friendly night.
In a press release for the event, the Park stated, “Accessibility and inclusion are important to us, which is why we have planned a Sensory Friendly Evening for anyone who may benefit from a sensory-friendly experience.”
The night will include a quieter, more supportive Wildlights experience with no music. Cenucks Autism Network will also have trained staff throughout the park, providing support to anyone who needs it.
“I’m very excited about the Wildlights events, the people putting it together have and still are working really hard making sure it all looks perfect,” MacMillan said. “I think its great we are putting aside one night where truly everyone can enjoy and no one will miss out.”
Getting people in, even if its for an after-hours event, will still benefit the residents of BC Wildlife park, some of which can only be found in Kamloops. The 12-year-old Kermode Bear that made the BC Wildlife Park his home in 2013 is the only of his species that’s in human care.
The events are a fun way for the parks name to get out there, but its not all they do. It is important to remember that the facility has continued to assist in preserving biodiversity through research, captive breeding and rehabilitation services.
In late August, the city of Kamloops renewed their funding agreement with the park for the 2024-2027 term. This funding will allow BC Wildlife Park to continue their effort in providing resources to their residents and to injured and orphaned wildlife in British Columbia.
