Once upon a time, Traverse City’s Clinch Park Zoo brought us face-to-face with animals we share our wild lands with. Clinch Park’s bobcats, bears, wolves, otters, eagle and other native neighbors helped connect us to the hidden lives beyond our streets.
The zoo was small, child-friendly and provided an inexpensive, educational outing. Built in the 1930s, it closed in 2006. Granted, the animals deserved more spacious quarters, but when they departed we lost the rare opportunity to look an undomesticated animal in the eye to see its very soul.
Our affinity for Mother Nature’s children motivates many of us to invite winged ones to our backyards. We built an industry manning birdfeeders allowing us to engage in personal bird experiences.
My urbanite daughter has taken to befriending and photographing her neighborhood squirrels. Her images shared on Instagram capture their personalities, antics and curious ways. Seems there is quite a fan base for the rodents. Go to any social media platform and you’ll find countless posts reflecting the desire to connect with the backyard neighbors.
With the zoo and its mission abandoned, there’s no longer a local one-stop venue to ground ourselves to the link between animals and humanity. But here’s a bucket list for meeting a few of Earth’s charming residents.
Mingle with alpaca at Northern Lavender Farm’s alpaca petting zoo located just south of Mesick. In Frankfort, Crystal Lake Alpaca Farm offers opportunity to get cozy with and feed alpaca, donkeys and goats.
Hold hedgehogs, guinea pigs, lizards and other critters at Cognition interactive science playground in Beulah. At the Butterfly House & Bug Zoo in Williamsburg, walk among hundreds of flitting butterflies native to countries around the globe. You can also meet Squishy the Iberian newt and visit the tarantula tree and other crawlers.
Take the Yak Safari Tour at A Yak or 2 Ranch in Mancelona. Get to know Rosalita, Sparkle, Elvira and their fellow Asian nomad beasts. It’s all cuteness in Missaukee County where people from across the state come for Maple Leaf Farm & Creamery’s Baby Goat Experience. For six weeks in the spring, you can book a 25-minute visit to the goat nursery to snuggle and feed the farm’s newest additions.
Building relationships with animals is not just fun, it expands our understanding of the world — and if we’re open, makes us better humans.