Smoky skies, wildfires, and above normal temperatures made for a very difficult August at the BC Wildlife Park.

That is according to General Manager Glenn Grant who says there were just under 11,500 visitors in August, well below the average of 16,000 seen in each of the past five years.

“We have some months that were higher than budget, and some months that were lower than budget, so we’ll see,” he said. “August might not be the best of months, but September is a beautiful month.”

Grant says B.C.’s short lived ban on travel to communities like Kamloops also played a factor in those lower attendance levels in August.

“People that were planning and cancelled plans, they’re going to continue to cancel them, but we’ll move forward,” Grant said, noting people who cancelled plans were unlikely to change their mind once the ban was lifted.

“I think the tourism impact right now is huge. Without people coming into town and without some decent weather to have them moving about, that probably has the biggest toll.”

Grant says there was one day in August where there were just 81 people at the BC Wildlife Park, well below the usual daily average of 500 for this time of year.

“The heat makes a difference as well, even prior to the smoke,” he said. “When it gets up plus 35 and higher, its a ghost town around the park, but the first half of the year fairly good. July was okay, but August is going to hurt a little bit.”

Through the first eight months of this year, Grant says there have been 66,708 visitors at the BC Wildlife Park. It is down from the 72,332 people during the first eight months of last year.

“We got lots to look forward to there and we’ll move forward. One foot in front of the other and we’ll just keep going,” Grant said.