HANNA CITY, Ill. (WMBD) — Some exciting changes have begun at the Wildlife Prairie Park in Hanna City.
The park was selected to receive $150,970 through the Tourism Attraction and Festivals grant. It’s a statewide investment to increase tourism across Illinois and support local attractions.
The funds will be used to make upgrades to the wolf and cougar enclosures, as well as bring more animals to the park. That includes three cougars, two wolves, a red fox, two porcupines, roosters, and a horse.
“We are always looking for more animals to enhance the experience of our guests, and so when we have an enclosure that’s completed or empty, we’ll always be looking for more,” said Wildlife Director Andy Aberle.
Aberle said Wildlife Prairie Park will be the only place in Illinois where people can see cougars. He said it’s special that they not only get to have a cougar, but three cougars that are sisters.
He also explained the excitement when the park found out they received the grant.
“Now we can actually get on to the business of building our wolf enclosure and our cougar enclosure,” said Aberle. “We’ve been talking about building the cougar enclosure for probably two years, planning it, but we just didn’t have the extra amount of money actually to build it.”
The cougar enclosure is still in the works but should be completed within the next six weeks.
