Wild Times at Wildwood Zoo: March 2026

Monday, March 23rd, 2026 -- 12:01 PM

It’s time for Wild Times at the Wildwood Zoo, a new monthly feature where we hear what’s happening at the Wildwood Zoo in Marshfield.

I spoke with Kyle Kirk, Wildwood Zoo Manager, and he discussed what’s coming up at the zoo including “Be the Bunny”.

Listen to the interview with Kyle here!

If you’d like to learn more about what’s happening at the Wildwood Zoo, you can check out the City of Marshfield’s website (https://cityofmarshfieldwi.gov/visitors/wildwood_park_and_zoo/index.php) or the zoo’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wildwoodzoo).

(AI assisted transcription via Otter.ai)

Kyle: "'Be the Bunny' is a really fun activity where we allow people to buy baskets of different fun, enrichment items, a lot of eggs, so produce. On April 11th, at 10am, people are allowed to go into a couple of these habitats where we're planning baskets for the skunks, porcupines, the wildcats, our mountain lion, and the bears."

"So, once everybody is out and spread their enrichment around, you can find these baskets. Find out more about these baskets at the City of Marshfield website and they're very pretty inexpensive and a really fun activity for the family."

"It's really interesting because once all the enrichment is spread, we'll secure the habitats and let the animals back and it's really fun and interesting to watch them interact with some of the objects we put in some of the baskets for people to spread and it's a great opportunity to learn and have some fun at the same time."

Riley: "And now you did mention that you're still in your winter hours right now. Can you just kind of remind people what the winter hours are for Wildwood Zoo in case they would like to come by and wander around at some point?"

Kyle: "So, we're definitely surviving this winter. A lot of people think it's a misconception that some of the animals go to different places, but here at Wildwood Zoo, we are at capacity year round. Our animals never leave the site. So, still some great opportunities to see some of the animals. We are open Monday through Sunday, every day, from 7am to 3pm in the afternoon."

"And it's really interesting to see some of these more snow bound creatures, like our Canadian Linx that we have and, even with the 26 inches of snow we've received at the zoo, he, with his paws being so large and fluffy, he walks right on top of the snow, and he loves it. So, there's still great things to see at the zoo and always something to learn."

Riley: "And with summer then, and spring, being right around the corner, do you know when Wildwood Zoo will be switching over to those summer hours?"

Kyle: "April 1st we'll be switching over to our spring hours. And then further on towards May and June, we'll be switching to our summer hours. So, our spring hours we close right around six at night and, in summer hours, we stay open till 7:30pm."

Riley: "Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

Kyle: "I'll be the first one to tell you is that a zoo is is really similar to a farm. And you know it, it just takes a whole lot of dedication to keep these animals happy and healthy. And you know, some of our animals, they, I assure you, they've been cared for to the deepest possibility."

"Some things you'll just never plan for, because I had to bring our quail off exhibit on Sunday because they were, you know, underneath 16 inches of snow and kind of trapped and they didn't know what to do. So, you know, we're constantly battling out here, just like people are trying to shovel off their driveways."

"And we'd really like to see people if they'd like to come out and bear the weather with us. And you know, I'd love to see some more people coming into spring, because, you know, attendance really goes down in our winter hours being so cold, but I'm confident that we'll have a great year, you know. So, I'm excited."

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.