Big Bear Lake Flashlight Safari tours are a howl

Take a walk on the wild side this fall when Flashlight Safari tours bring mountain visitors face to face with creatures of the night.

The Big Bear Lake tours, which are Saturday nights at Moonridge Animal Park, put the spotlight on the zoo’s nocturnal creatures -- the wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes and foxes that come alive after dark. Participants in the two-hour tours get a chance to hear the howls and see the eyes that glow in the flashlight beams.

“It’s the eyes -- the eyes say it all,” said Debbie Richardson, the animal park’s curator. “Shine a flashlight into the animals’ pens and you see a pair of glowing eyes. They’re watching you.”

The tours will be Saturdays through Nov. 12; tour participants must arrive before 7 p.m. to be admitted. Tours cost $9 for adults, $6 for seniors and children ages 3 to 10; children younger than 3 are admitted free. Guests are encouraged to bring flashlights and dress warmly.

“We get the coyotes howling at one end of the zoo, which in turn triggers the wolves to howl back,” Richardson said. “Then we hear the owls hooting, foxes scratching and mountain lions chirping.”

Moonridge Animal Park, one of only two alpine zoos in the United States, is a wildlife rehabilitation center and sanctuary for injured, orphaned and endangered alpine species. Its residents include a family of grizzly bears, as well bobcats, wood bison, wolves, mountain lions and a snow leopard, along with dozens of smaller native alpine species.

Flashlight Safaris begin in the education center where guests learn about the biological makeup and heightened senses of nocturnal animals. From there the curator or other park staff members lead the tour group through the zoo to point out various nighttime behaviors.

Info: Moonridge Animal Park, 43285 Goldmine Drive, Big Bear Lake, (909) 584-1299.