SUAMICO, WI (WTAQ) – The Board of Directors of the NEW Zoological Society is officially breaking ground on the Canopy Tour at the NEW Zoo & Adventure Park today.
The new Canopy Tour will enable visitors to view animals in their habitats in a new perspective, with a nearly half-mile track of bridges and platforms that are being built around trees.
“Once it is completed you will be able to access this new canopy tour, and really walk above the zoo…You get to see the zoo from a whole different perspective, from up high,” said NEW Zoological Society Development Manager Kristine Schuetze.
A pair of animal walkways will also allow visitors to get up close and personal with some popular attractions.
“One for the snow leopards and one for the Japanese macaques, or snow monkeys. Those two animals will be able to use their animal shoots walking up next to you, the public, as you’re walking on the canopy tour,” Schuetze said.
The canopy plans have been in the works for about five years. Fundraising started and was later halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but finally wrapped up this past fall. The hired contractor on the project is a France-based company, and travel restrictions pushed things even further back.
“It’s going to take them here on-site about eight weeks. The did start some of the construction of the bridges and skywalks in a facility that they have in Georgia,” Schuetze told WTAQ News.
A grand opening for the approximately half-million project is expected to be held the first weekend of July.
