Started November 2023 · last walked the loop September 2026

Cold paws, warm days

I looked after the Amur tigers, the bison, the gorillas and the penguins at this zoo for nineteen years. I retired two winters ago. I still hold a volunteer badge, and I still know every animal on the loop by name.

My name is Tommy Kowalchuk, I am fifty-three, and this is not the zoo's website. It is a keeper's notebook — the things I would tell you if we were standing at the rail together and you asked me what is worth your afternoon.

I write it because the honest questions do not get answered at the gate. Which animals are actually awake in February. Why the penguin walk happens at the time it happens. Which parts of the grounds are due for renovation and look tired right now. Where the food court will take twenty dollars off you for a burger and a bottle of water.

I love the place. I also know where it is thin. Both of those go in here.

Amur tiger walking in snow — The Amurs are the reason I took the job. On a bright cold morning they pace the fence line like they have an appointment to keep — more on that in the diary.

"People ask me what the best day to come is. I say: the coldest sunny day you can stand. The animals are awake, the crowds are asleep in bed, and the light is worth the frozen fingers."— Tommy, on the phone to his sister, again

Where to start

A word about how some visitors found this page

This site runs small search ads so people planning a zoo day can find a keeper's version of it instead of a brochure. If an ad brought you here and what you wanted was the zoo itself — tickets, hours, memberships — that is the official site, and you should go straight there. I do not sell tickets and I do not get a cent if you do.