Zoo Group Seeks Funds For Move To Idaho Walk In The Wild To Relocate At Silverwood Amusement Park

Many North Idaho residents and businesses will be asked next week to donate money to bring Spokane’s zoo to Silverwood amusement park.

Letters asking people to make a donation and join the Inland Northwest Zoological Society will go to “people who have a history of giving to (environmental causes) or charity,” said Don Thie, zoological society board member.

Eastern Washington residents will get the same letters later in the month, said Thie.

The society is banking on a “large influx of cash” from the membership drive, he said.

“In getting out and talking to (Idaho) groups like Rotary and Kiwanis, it’s been extremely positive,” Thie said.

The society, which operated Walk in the Wild zoo for 23 years until it closed in December, is trying to raise $2 million to open a new zoo on Silverwood property in North Idaho.

So far, about $800,000 has been pledged, including $500,000 from Silverwood’s owners.

The society doesn’t plan to open the zoo until summer 1997, Thie said. But grizzly bears, elk, bison and other animals still at Walk in the Wild probably will be moved into temporary enclosures at Silverwood this summer, he said.

The proposed zoo, called Cedar Mountain Zoological Park, would be independent from the theme park.

, DataTimes