In a world! ... where the Mariners are eight-and-a-half games back, summer movies have only been OK, and presidential candidates bet millions on who can be least popular, we need an August pick-us-up. On Facebook, the response to that necessity is simple: baby animal videos. In real life, the kind where it's always complicated, the solution turns out to be: live baby animals.

We visited Northwest Trek, an idyllic animal sanctuary on 723 acres in Eatonville, the day after a grueling week of airport insanity. We snarled through vacation hangover and needed 50 CCs of baby animal cuteness, stat. We were lured by Spruce, the moose calf born June 12 and named by public vote a month ago. Unfortunately, Spruce wasn't feeling like a celebrity the day we arrived, preferring to stay hidden beside his mother, Connie. (She was named for Connie Hellyer, one of the park's two married co-founders.) Ah, but spring has brought an abundance of new life to Northwest Trek, most of which was on adorable display.

We met, for example, a wobbly legged caribou calf on the 435-acre, free-roaming-area tram tour. (Readers may know the majestically antlered caribou better by its domesticated term, reindeer.) The tour afforded glimpses of bison calves and baby mountain goats. Then it was off to the wetlands area, where three new beaver kits, born May 5, cavorted for the entertainment of human beings of all sizes. I spoke with Marc Heinzman, zoological curator for the park, who said it's impossible to tell whether a beaver is male or female from the outside. Thus, the kits will be named when they've been genetically tested.

In a season, Heinzman noted with a smile, "they've grown from something you can hold in the palm of your hand to something that takes two hands at least. They grow so fast."

I asked Heinzman how much of the Northwest Trek experience is truly natural, meaning untouched by human manipulation.

"The landscape the park is set in is one hundred percent natural, other than the paths," he replied. "All the animals here are species that are native to the Pacific Northwest ... We have the whole perimeter of the park contained to defend against natural predators. They're just outside our fences. You might find a bear or a cougar, coyotes, bobcats." As for overpopulation, "We have some of our species on contraceptives, so they can't breed."

Here are some fun facts we learned that afternoon: A cougar can leap 18 feet straight up. A wolverine's teeth are so strong that it can chew frozen meat, bones and all. Despite their popular reputation, owls aren't clever - their skull volume is dominated by eyeballs and optical processing. A newborn moose weighs 30 pounds, but its antlers alone could weigh 40 when full grown. Above all, we were reminded that kids ask terrific science questions, especially when meeting creatures as new to the wild world as they are.

Northwest Trek invites you to discover the sounds and behaviors of animals as they prepare for fall. How do animals act during this important time of year? Find out Sept. 3-5, when a special event called "Calls of the Wild" looks at animal noises, food collection, hibernation, torpor and other autumn activities. Visitors ages 65 or older enjoy half-price park admission throughout September. Also, Point Defiance Zoo announced its recent acquisition of a three-month-old muskox calf, Hudson, from the Large Animal Research Station at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, 11610 Trek Drive E., Eatonville, 360.832.6117