The BC Wildlife Park is in the process of building some new rehabilitation pens for aquatic animals.

General Manager, Glenn Grant, says it will be meant for animals like ducks, geese, otters, and beavers that come to the Wildlife Park for care.

“Fencing is in place right now and completed so there will be four holding areas in total,” Grant told NL News. “There will be a large indoor space for them as well as double entries for our keepers, and we’re currently putting a water feature in each of the four holding areas.”

“We do have an area [for them currently] but unfortunately, it is all indoors with rubber pools that someone might have in their yard.”

With the fencing up, Grant says crews have covered the enclosure so they can continue to pour concrete under the heated tarps.

“They are doing four concrete pools in each one of the habitats that are in there,” Grant said, noting the roughly $100,000 project is funded entirely by grant funding.

“We did have a couple of wonderful grants received from the Shuswap Community Foundation,” he added. “New Gold has helped us out quite a bit, and there have been a number of smaller donations that have come through, which is fantastic.”

Grant says these new rehabilitation pens will “greatly enhance” the care that the Wildlife Park is able to provide to aquatic animals, when it opens in spring.

“It is good right now but we want to be better than good,” he said, noting that like other rehabilitation pens at the Wildlife Park, this one will be off limits to the public.