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Wildlife Safari's Gator Bayou Bash

Sep 17, 2016
05:00 pm - 08:00 pm

Wildlife Safari in Winston Oregon is throwing a celebration of alligators in the Safari Special Events Lawn to kick off fundraising efforts for an all-new and fully interactive alligator habitat in the always free Safari village.

“Due to the climate in Oregon, our alligators are only on display for half the year,” explains Wildlife Safari’s supervisor for the village animal collection, Stephanie Gallivan, “alligators, who are ecotherms, regulate their body temperatures by moving in and out of the sun to heat and cool. When it gets too cool or there is too little sun, they can lose their ability to move and digest properly. To keep them safe, Bayou and Jabba are removed from their habitat and kept comfortable in Safari’s new, state of the art, animal hospital- where they are under the care of Wildlife Safari’s full time veterinary staff.”

A new habitat planned at Wildlife Safari will ensure that the gators are visible to the public year-round. It will also feature an indoor pool, provide access to the outdoor exhibit on warmer days and feature opportunities for public viewing in the form of both large windows & an indoor walking boardwalk to allow guests to get closer to the gators than ever before.

“This kick-off event is going to be amazingly fun for the community,” says Jacob Schlueter, Wildlife Safari’s Marketing Director, “we are featuring authentic Cajun food to include fried catfish and Cajun chicken, black eyed peas & more, music by an incredible artist people may know- Kelly Thibodeaux and the Etouffe Band- really great beer from Lookingglass Brewery and wine from the amazing Henry Estates Winery.”

Tickets for the event are just $15 for kids and $20 for adults with dinner, live music, lawn games, special encounters with Jabba & Bayou (Safari’s resident gators) and more, all included. The event will take place at Wildlife Safari on Saturday, September 17 from 5-8pm.

“We’re always coming up with great family fun at Safari,” Dan Van Slyke, the parks Executive Director said, “and this event won’t be an exception. The kids can run around and dance, mom and dad can enjoy a drink and some really amazing food, it’s just going to be a really great time.”

Safari hopes to raise $50,000 to fund the new gator house project. Wildlife Safari says that if anyone can’t make it to the event on Saturday, they can support the project by visiting the project’s GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/JabbaAndBayou or by contacting pr@wildlifesafari.net