Community Bulletin
The Healthy Hero Hustle 5K Run/Walk in Buckhannon will return for its third year on Saturday, September 19, 2026, as WVU Medicine St. Joseph's Hospital and West Virginia Wesleyan College team up again to benefit nursing students. Read more →
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ROCK CAVE – The West Virginia State Wildlife Center has reopened – and now with free admission.
The center is open to guests from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, including weekends and holidays. The picnic area is closed, but the gift shop and snack bar will be open, and the phone number for the gift shop is 304-924-6003.
The center is home to animals native and introduced to West Virginia, including the state animal the black bear, mountain lions, raccoons, otters, coyotes, wolves, bobcats and much more.
According to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources website, wildlife can be seen along a wheelchair accessible 1.25-mile path through a hardwood forest.
“The spacious enclosures allow the animals to interact with their environment and they therefore exhibit more natural behavior patterns,” the website says. “Interpretive signs help the visitor to learn more about each animal’s life history, biology and its relationship with humans.”
Social distancing guidelines and signs are posted in the area.
Governor Jim Justice earlier this month announced zoos, museums and visitor centers and indoor and outdoor bars at 50 percent capacity would be able to reopen today, Tuesday, May 26.
