Medicine River Wildlife Centre opening new playground Saturday

The Medicine River Wildlife Centre is holding a special event this weekend to unveil a new playground.
 
The outdoor play area is the result of a $133,000 grant from the Co-op Community Spaces grant which announced the wildlife centre as a recipient last summer.
 
The playground will allow kids to feel like a fox by scurrying into an underground den, a beaver while waddling out of a lodge, an owl as you perch high in a nest, or a bird inside a cedar-sided birdhouse.
 
“We know that kids and people in general are disconnected from the environment and wildlife,” says Carol Kelly, Executive Director. “Kids don’t often get down and dirty and play and pretend like they used to, so we wanted a place where they could use their imagination, get a little bit dirty and do some learning all in one and have some fun.”
 
The centre is also using Saturday to launch the fourth volume in a series of books for kids featuring Otis the Owl. Kelly says the book deals with the misconceptions they encounter about wildlife.
 
Orders will be taken that day and all proceeds go back to the centre thanks to Altalink sponsoring the book.
 
Kelly also offered an update on the status of the in-progress animal hospital being built. She says they are $240,000 away from being able to complete the project. Donors have recently come forward to paint the exterior and provide doors and windows. 
 
A ribbon cutting will be held for the playground on Saturday at 11 a.m. and a BBQ from Spruce View Co-op will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Directions to the MRWC are at medicineriverwildlifecentre.ca.