Where animals come first
At Park Nordica, every animal encounter happens on the animals’ terms.
Set in the heart of Nordic nature, Park Nordica is surrounded by forests, mountains and wide-open wilderness. The animals you meet here are species that belong in this landscape.
But that doesn’t mean you’ll always spot them straight away. The wolves may be hidden from view. A lynx may be resting quietly among the trees. The bears may have found a shady place to sleep. Or the moose may simply be standing just far enough away to blend into the forest.
Here, the animals have space to choose. They can come closer, or they can keep their distance. It makes each encounter less predictable — and much more real.
“The animals always have a choice. We never force them to do anything.”
You’re welcome to explore the park on your own. But if you want to learn more — and have a better chance of seeing the animals — we recommend joining our keepers on a guided feeding round.
Still wild
The animals at Park Nordica are not tame. They are wild animals that have grown used to people. They are not trained to perform, and they are never encouraged closer to visitors than they are comfortable with.
At the same time, our keepers need to be able to care for them. That means feeding them, checking for injuries, vaccinating them, weighing them and moving them when necessary. To make this as calm as possible, we work with trust and voluntary training. A moose can learn that a light touch on the neck is nothing to fear, making future vaccinations less stressful. Other animals practice entering a transport crate voluntarily, so moving them can happen more calmly and safely.
What we do not train for is tricks for visitors.
In the wild, animals spend much of their day searching for food, moving through their territory and exploring their surroundings. Our keepers try to reflect that in the animals’ daily routines. Food may be hidden, frozen or placed in ways that encourage them to use their senses, strength and time to reach it.
A home for animals that need one
Many of the animals at Park Nordica were not born here. Some come from other animal parks. Others were found as young animals without their mothers.
Where possible, we give space to animals that already exist and need somewhere safe to live. For wolves and wolverines, we also take part in European conservation breeding programmes for animals in parks and zoos. These programmes help maintain healthy, genetically robust populations in human care, and can serve as an important safeguard if the species were to disappear from the wild.
Did you know? On the Norwegian Red List from 2021, the wolf is classified as critically endangered, while the wolverine and brown bear are classified as endangered.
Even the smallest animals get a choice
In Children’s Park Nordica, children can meet some of the park’s smaller animals up close, including sheep, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs and birds. The aim is to create safe, positive animal encounters — while also helping children understand that animals have boundaries too.
The same principle applies here as in the rest of the park: every encounter should happen on the animals’ terms. The animals have their own areas where they can retreat, and children learn to look for signals. If a pig makes a certain sound, it may mean it has had enough attention. If a goat walks away, it should be left in peace.
The important role of our animal keepers
Our keepers are the most important part of our animal welfare work. They know the animals so well that even small changes can set off alarm bells.
Is the animal eating as usual? Moving differently? Is there tension in the group? Has anyone got stuck, been injured or withdrawn from the others?
Our animal keepers live just across the road from the park and are available outside opening hours too. Their day begins at seven in the morning, but it does not end when the park closes. In the evening, someone returns for one last round, making sure that no animal is left stuck or injured until morning.