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Wildlife Prairie Park: Get your adventure on for free!

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I’ve never liked zoos much. “Loath” is a better word. The animals remain essentially caged in dressed-up, artificial settings. They quite often are bored and listless. They don’t hunt; they are fed. They don’t have miles to roam; they have yards. Try as they might to create “natural habitats” zoos ultimately fall short.

That’s why Peorians should be proud of what Wildlife Prairie Park has created and maintained the past 37 years—over 2,000 acres of pristine land that is the true natural habitat to more than 130 indigenous animals and birds. And this weekend—Sunday, August 16, to be exact—you can see them all for free as part of Free Admission Day at Wildlife Prairie Park. That includes fishing, canoeing, hiking, biking and, of course, learning about all the animals.

Sure, you won’t see lions, gorillas and giraffes. But you will see buffalos and bears, elks and otters, and cougars and wolves, just to name a few. And you won’t see them behind thick glass walls or iron bars, either. You will see them living naturally in the wild—just as they should be. In fact you will be more caged up then they are when you visit the park.

The Free Admission Day also kicks off an effort to increase membership in order to expand and improve the park. The goal is to add 450 new members before the end of October. Annual individual memberships are $55 and annual family memberships are $85. Those interested in becoming members will be able to sign up at the event and enter to win prizes. Membership has additional perks, including unlimited park access, monthly communications and discounts.

Sure, there aren’t any lions or gorillas or giraffes when you visit Wildlife Prairie Park—which is exactly the point. Lions and gorillas and giraffes, while entertaining for the kids, don’t belong in central Illinois (or anyplace in the United States for that matter). Why? Because this is not their natural habitat. And taking them from their natural habitat merely for our entertainment and “education” is, in short, cruel. That’s part of what makes Wildlife Prairie Park so special. It truly is a natural habitat—a sanctuary, if you will—for the animals that call it home.

We are very lucky to have Wildlife Prairie Park in Greater Peoria. And hopefully, everyone will step up and make sure we can still say that previous sentence for decades to come.

About the Author
A Juilliard-trained writer, Kevin Kizer has fought against numerous world-champion writers during his career, besting the reigning middle weight writing champion in an exhibition bout in Helsinki in 1976. He also played a crucial role on the U.S. gold-medal winning writing team during the 1984 Pan-Am games, where he came off the bench in dramatic fashion to write the winning prepositional phrase just as time expired.