For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD – Finishing touches are being put on some new exhibits at the Wildwood Park and Zoo in Marshfield.

According to Marshfield Parks & Recreation Director Justin Casperson, work will be completed by Oct. 25.

“We’re just putting some final touches on things this week and next week,” Casperson said.

An Oct. 25 ribbon-cutting will unveil a new “Welcome Center’ for the zoo, along with an expansive natural-habitat cougar exhibit that Casperson says should make the cougars feel right at home.

“The cougars are going from a 600-foot exhibit to a 6,000-square-foot exhibit.  And they’re going from almost all on concrete, to ‘very native’ of what their habitat would be,” he said.

The zoo’s new Welcome Center will feature some ADA compliant restrooms, small animal exhibits; and for the kids there’s a hi-tech interactive exhibit about the “life-cycle” of groundwater.

According to Casperson, “Inside that Welcome Center we’ll have various small animal displays, like reptiles, insects, and the honey bee exhibit.  We also have a large water display that talks about the water cycle and lets the kids manipulate the water flow.”

The new exhibits have been under construction since last June, and should be ready just in time for the upcoming ribbon-cutting.

Casperson says those new additions to the zoo are being funded mainly through community donations.