The Stunning Secret That No One Tells You About Zoo Boise’s ‘Boise Bill’

Over the last couple of weeks, there's been a lot of exciting news coming out of the zoo. Admission in February is discounted to $2 on Tuesdays. You can book a private party to paint with the penguins. We love it all, but it doesn't make me any less salty about the fact that I'm clearly the only person who didn't know this about the zoo. 

For the record, this tale is slightly less embarrassing than when Marco told everyone he met that there was a period of time where I thought that giraffes were native to Boise. Long story short, I had just moved here and didn't know anyone. I filled my time by running the Greenbelt. One day, I was running through Julia Davis Park and saw Julius and Jabari's heads in the trees just across the parking lot. The next morning, I went on the air and said that Boise was the clearly coolest city in the world because they have giraffes wandering their parks.

Get our free mobile app

And my co-host at the time just stared at me in utter disbelief that those words left my mouth. That's when he informed me that I ran past the zoo. The zoo is in the park. I saw the giraffe enclosure. I had never felt so dumb in my entire life.

Until about seven years later when KTVB rocked my world. The way the studio I worked in was set up, my back was turned to the TV, so every year on Groundhog Day I would hear Maggie and Doug talk about Boise Bill. The Treasure Valley thought this rodent's predictions were far more accurate than Punxsutawney Phil's.  Makes sense, considering Phil lives on the other side of the country.

Every year I would hear them reveal Boise Bill, the prairie dog's, prediction but by the time I turned around they'd move on to the next story.  I never got to see the little guy, until 2017 when my co-host was out with a sick kid. All of a sudden this image came up on the screen and I was absolutely flabbergasted.

BOISE BILL IS A STUFFED ANIMAL?! WHAT?!

All these years, I thought he was one of the prairie dogs at the zoo that had a plush, VIP enclosure somewhere. No, he didn't have a plush living quarters. He actually was a plush. I had an existential crisis on the air moments later.

How did I not know?! Am I the only one I didn't know?! I'm so embarrassed...again.