Bear exhibit inside the Wildwood Zoo in Marshfield. (Photo courtesy of WAOW-TV)
MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — A Central Wisconsin zoo has taken steps to make the park a more inclusive place.
Last week Wildwood Park & Zoo in Marshfield introduced sensory bags to help those with conditions like Autism, PTSD, or Dementia enjoy a day at the zoo without experiencing sensory overload. Zoo Manager Steven Burns tells WAOW-TV it’s been a learning process with partner organization KultureCity.
“We’ve better learned how to accommodate those individuals to make it a more welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for everyone, and also how to handle situations when an individual might be experiencing a sensory overload.”
The partnership project with KultureCity has taken about five months. Burns says part of the process was identifying different areas of the zoo and their potential for sensory overload. “We’ve also identified other areas of the zoo that might be more stressful, a louder area of the zoo and areas of the zoo that people can get away to destress a little bit.”
Zoo officials say one of the loudest attractions is the bears. So noise-canceling headphones will help keep things at a manageable volume. Burns says the zoo is always striving to be a more welcoming place for the entire community. “We thought this was a really cool area to expand on and see what we could do to better accommodate our public.”
The sensory bag includes noise-canceling headphones, fidget tools, verbal cue cards, and lap pads to help people feeling overwhelmed. Right now the zoo has five sensory bags but says if demand for them increases, they will gladly get more.
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