Lake Superior Zoo Starts Campaign To Fund Rescued Animal Housing

DULUTH, Minn. — Since March, the Lake Superior Zoo has been home to a few new residents, and now, those residents are needing a little public support to ensure a comfortable future at the zoo.

“We are trying to raise awareness for our “New Beginnings” campaign that is supporting our rescue.” said Lead Zookeeper Emily Perala. “Earlier this year, the zoo completed of a whole bunch of animals from SeaQuest in Roseville when it closed, so we have a lot of animals we took in from that rescue that we are trying to provide the best possible care.”

The campaign is in direct response to the SeaQuest Roseville rescue this past Spring; with any donations the zoo will be receiving going directly into constructing the new habitats for the many animals that were rescued.

“We are building a brand-new parrot aviary to house some of the birds brought in from SeaQuest, and so that will be going up to our Australia and Oceana building, and then we also are building a new barn to help move around and make space for our Capybara that came in.” said Perala

This is just another step in the acclimation for these critters, who have endured a long process to become permanent fixtures of the zoo.

“After the animals got here, we did do the vetting and things like that, and we were able to get animals out of quarantine, and now the next move is to modify their homes and make sure that they have everything that they could possibly need right here at the zoo.” said Caroline Routley, marketing manager with the zoo.

With these animal’s journeys nearly complete, the final push to get them across the finish line is a team effort. One that’s completely worth it for everyone involved.

“When you started with most of these animals being inside their entire lives and just the simple fact of being able to go outside and have fresh air and things like that, it’s been really helpful and really exciting for us to be able to see animals experience sunshine for the first time.” said Perala.

The New Beginnings Campaign is happening right now at the zoo, and those interested can find the link here, or on the zoo’s website.