Wildlife Park extends warm welcome

AS COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease Ballarat’s Wildlife Park has come out of hibernation.

After closing for a couple of months due to pandemic lockdown, the park began welcoming visitors back as of 1 June with some changes.

“We’re still limited to what we can offer and we’re not running any presentations or tours at the moment,” said Ballarat Wildlife Park’s operations manager Jared Mulholland.

“What we’re offering is still the chance to come through and see and enjoy the park in a nice, relaxed fashion.”

Although the park still has a cap on the number of patrons allowed, so far, this hasn’t been an issue.

“We’re confident that it will still be a relaxed walk around just with not so many people in the park.

“We’ve got lots of COVID-19 practices in place to keep people safe too,” said Mr Mulholland.

With the help of the Federal government’s COVID-19 funding scheme the park has been able to continue operating.

“It was a really tough time to get through but JobKeeper was a life saver,” Mr Mulholland said.

“We’re still looking to any other funding we can apply for in the future.”

With the virtual Ballarat Winter Fest on the horizon, the Wildlife Park is hoping for a boost in tourism.

“Winter Fest is going to make people aware that the attractions are still open and operating,” said Mr Mulholland.

“Especially at this time of year, which is normally our quiet time for us, we’re so grateful that the festival is going ahead and bring people in.”