On May 9, 2024, Utah’s Hogle Zoo opened a new chapter in its history with the debut of the Aline W. Skaggs Wild Utah exhibit—a three-acre expansion celebrating our home state’s incredible wildlife and landscapes. 

Set against the backdrop of Emigration Canyon and designed to echo Utah’s great outdoors, Wild Utah is home to native species like cougars, desert bighorn sheep, burros, gray foxes, skunks, western toads, yellow-bellied marmots, and desert tortoises. 

Over the past year, Wild Utah has invited guests to engage with Utah wildlife like never before—offering personal animal experiences, hands-on conservation opportunities, and a behind-the-scenes look at expert animal care. 

Providing the best care means looking after animals from head to toe—or hoof. Caring for hooves might not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering animal care at the zoo, but for many species, it’s an essential part of their health and wellbeing.

Meet Willow and Juniper

Gray foxes Willow and Juniper are beloved residents of Wild Utah, Hogle Zoo’s newest 3-acre expansion that opened in May 2024. Willow, the more outgoing and energetic of the two, can often be found climbing trees and running around their habitat. Juniper, the smaller of the two foxes, tends to be a bit shyer, remaining cautiously curious about the world around her. 

Estimated to be around two years old, the pair were found abandoned as young kits in New Mexico and were taken in by a wildlife rehabilitation center. During their short stay, Juniper was observed to have some visual impairments. It was determined that the foxes wouldn’t be able to survive on their own in their natural habitat and were rescued to Hogle Zoo in 2023.

In the summer of 2023, a badger was found digging around a Utah construction site. While digging is something badgers do best, his adventurous and destructive excursions in this populated area created an unsafe situation for humans and the badger. Because he couldn’t be released back to his natural habitat, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) rehomed him to Hogle Zoo in August 2023. 

After arriving at Hogle Zoo, our on-site veterinary team conducted a health exam and discovered abnormalities in the badger’s chest and lungs. X-rays revealed a sharp, metallic object in his chest and an object impacting his lung. We then brought him to MedVet for a CT scan to further identify the foreign material and develop a treatment plan. 

This discovery of metal in his chest and his remarkable resilience is how we affectionately coined Tony’s name after the Marvel character Tony Stark, or “Iron Man.” 

While Tony was fortunate these items didn’t impact his heart or major blood vessels or rupture a lung, the teams at Hogle Zoo and MedVet determined that surgery was necessary. In November 2023, surrounded by a team of veterinarians and technicians, Board-certified Veterinary Surgeon Dr. Sylvia Lee performed a thoracotomy (an incision between the ribs) at MedVet to remove the objects inside of Tony. Once removed, the objects appeared to be a piece of rusty, sharp metal and a piece of wood.

Utah’s Hogle Zoo will unveil the Aline W. Skaggs Wild Utah exhibit at noon on May 9, 2024. The three-acre expansion marks the culmination of years of planning to extend guest access to Hogle Zoo’s east side and opens a new chapter in the zoo’s history by highlighting one of the most diverse landscapes in the world. Resident species feature Utah wildlife, including cougars, desert bighorn sheep, burros, gray foxes, skunks, western toads, yellow-bellied marmots, and desert tortoises.