Nederland community steps in to aid Wild Bear Nature Center after fire at shopping center

KUNC | By Emma VandenEinde

Westie the turtle. Luna the snake. Vinnie the scorpion.

These are just some of the animals Wild Bear Nature Center lost in a fire that burned down their interim facility at the Caribou Village Shopping Center on Oct. 9. The Boulder County Sheriff's Office has classified it as a complete structural loss. The organization also lost numerous educational materials.

“All of our things were being stored in the space that burned down,” Frankie Beard, Wild Bear’s Director of Educational Operations, said. “That includes books and microscopes and skulls and pelts and years and years worth of donations.”