Annie and Willie, ZooMontana’s river otters, have called the zoo home for most of their lives. Though they’ve enjoyed the beautiful scenery that is ZooMontana, their exhibit lacks a natural environment, and after 15 years is showing signs of age. Luckily for Willie, Annie and ZooMontana they and their exhibit have been adopted by Gary and Fran Oakland of Billings, Mont. The Oaklands have agreed to provide $30,000 for maintenance and upgrades to the exhibit such as new filtration, paint, replacement of awning, benches, botanical and signage. They will also provide much needed operational funding after the initial maintenance upgrades have been made.
“This is a tremendous boost for the zoo,” said Jackie Worstell, zoo director. “We want to add exhibits and expand ZooMontana, but we first have to ensure we provide adequate homes for the animals currently in our care.” Worstell applauded Oaklands for seeing a need and stepping up to help. “Gary and Fran are true conservationists whose commitment to family, the community and the world around them shows in their generosity to ZooMontana.”
The exhibit was originally constructed using concrete and had no grass or sand for the otters to play on. The otter pond lacks rocks, sand, crawfish and other native river inhabitants that otters would normally enjoy in their natural habitat.
“The Oakland’s generosity will enable us to provide a much improved exhibit and environment for our otters.”
Travis Goebel, ZooMontana Curator, added, “Gary is one of those rare individuals who has a true connection with animals. That connection comes through when you see how animals respond to him.”
Worstell is hoping that other community members will mirror Oakland’s generosity by adopting an existing exhibit. “This is a real need at ZooMontana. The wonderful exhibits we have would not be possible without community support; adopting an existing exhibit will go a long way toward maintaining this important community asset.”
The zoo also added a floating island in the center of the otter exhibit. The hope is that the island, sponsored by Floating Islands International, will eliminate the need to use chemical treatments and bleach to clean the exhibit. It will also provide much needed natural landscape such as grass and sand for the otters to walk and roll on.
Use of the island is an experiment, and several zoos have expressed an interest and may add islands to their zoo exhibits if the experiment works.
“The otters love the island and the water quality is the best it has been without the need for chemicals,” said Krystal Whetham, Senior Keeper.
ZooMontana is open year round. The zoo is currently on winter hours with admissions open from 10am to 3pm, seven days a week. According to Whetham, the best times to see the otters in action are first thing in the morning, close to closing or during Saturday enrichments. Otters are generally nocturnal but will come out sporadically during the day when undisturbed.
