A $149,000 grant from the provincial government will help the BC Wildlife Park improve accessibility for all park visitors.

General Manager Glenn Grant tells NL News there are plans to pave all of the outdoor pathways while also upgrading the outdoor washrooms. Currently, about 800m of the park’s 1.5km of outdoor pathways are paved with the rest being crushed gravel.

“Accessibility has been a priority for us for a number of years. We know that having gravel pathways has been quite a struggle for people in wheelchairs or with walkers and strollers trying to navigate the whole park,” he said. “Having all pathways paved will help us become completely accessible for all visitors, including those that have difficult navigating uneven surfaces.”

“One other thing that its going to allow us to do is replace and improve all of our wildlife habitat signs to integrate the local heritage and culture so all animal exhibit signs and park maps will include the traditional Secwepemc wildlife name translations and how they came to be at the park.

The money will also help the BC Wildlife Park buy five powered mobility wheelchairs that will be available to guests to use.

“We’re extremely pleased and happy [with this grant funding],” Grant added. “If we want to be a destination that is 100 per cent accessible to all guests with all mobility concerns in mind, those are things we are willing to undertake and do.”

Work is expected to start this May and Grant expects it should be all be completed by the fall.

“It will be a bit intrusive and we’ll apologize in advance for that, but once those improvements are made, I think our guests will be quite grateful and happy that we did,” Grant said.