BUCKHANNON – Even more furry and scaly friends will be at the West Virginia Wildlife Center this Saturday.

The B-U Zoo will be visiting the Wildlife Center to celebrate the beginning of the spring/summer season at the center. The zoo features rex rabbits, crested geckos, a sulcata tortoise, a chinchilla, poison dart frogs and axolotls. Bridgette Tenney, zoology and biology teacher at Buckhannon-Upshur High School, raises and cares for these animals to help her zoology students learn about these different species.

The B-U Zoo will be available for viewing at the Wildlife Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Nature Activity Center, across the street from the gift shop. The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children and free for those three and under.  

“We’re trying to get animal lovers all to come together, and people who want to teach about animals altogether,” West Virginia Wildlife Center biologist Trevor Moore said. They have some more exotic animals than we can have here because all our animals are native to West Virginia.”

Moore said they are hoping to continue offering more interactive projects in the Nature Activity Center this year.

“It’s a place where kids and families can come in do some hands-on stuff, so you can touch furs, you can make tracks, we have a mini library corner where you can read all about different animals,” Moore said. “When we open it up, we plan to have someone in there, like an attendant, who can interact with the kids and plan activities for groups if they want.”

The rest of the center will also be open, but it is still a little too cold for the otters or the snakes to be on display.

The wolves, the coyotes and the bears have all been quite active recently, and the bobcats have been enjoying the warmer weather, soaking in the sun a lot, so they may not be active, but they should be visible,” Moore said. “The gift shop has also been open all year; they have a ton of food like pepperoni rolls, hot dogs and nachos.”