See animals in Christmas lights during evening tours at Folsom zoo
FOLSOM — The Folsom City Zoo is celebrating the holidays by putting up Christmas lights and opening its doors for special evening tours.
Timber the wolf is howling, and Cedar the mountain lion is prowling. It's a rare sight of the Folsom zoo after hours, during the annual Wild Nights and Holiday Lights event.
"We've invited the public to come and enjoy the zoo at night when a lot of the nocturnal animals are a little more visible," said Jocelyn Smeltzer, Folsom City Zoo manager.
Volunteers have decorated the six-acre site with thousands of holiday lights, and carolers are on hand to sing some festive tunes.
The animals even get some early wrapped Christmas presents.
"Zookeepers stuff some of the food that they eat into different stuffed boxes that we have that look like Christmas gifts, and they get to rip them apart and they have a blast," Smeltzer said.
The zoo features more than 40 species of native and exotic animals - and all of them are rescues.
"They can't survive in the wild. They might be injured or orphaned or maybe their parent passed away and they weren't able to find food on their own and survive, so we were able to take them in," Smeltzer said.
The 60-year-old zoo's future was uncertain earlier this year after federal inspectors found it did not meet current safety standards with a perimeter fence that is too low and could allow animals to escape.
Now, construction work is nearly complete on the repairs.
"We really appreciate that that's going super well," Smeltzer said. "It will help keep the zoo safe for many years to come."
This annual event is a major fundraiser for the Folsom zoo, and many people are appreciative of the effort that goes into this holiday tradition.
The holiday lights event continues Saturday night and again on December 15-20.
