Cat Complex vs Kovler Lion House

Zoogoer2000

Zoogoer2000

Well-Known Member
Im going to play a game.Im going to compare Henry Doorly Zoo's Cat Complex to Lincoln Park Zoo's Kovler Lion House,two of the worst cat houses in America.The game works like this, 5 points for each good point and -1 for each bad point.In the end whoever has more points wins.


Cat Complex

Good

-Better viewing (e.g. glass)

-more successful breeding

-larger holding areas

-more outdoor exhibits

-larger sq ft overall

Bad

-less natural setting (very barren,no topography,sterile looking)

-small indoor exhibits

-no stimulation for the guests

Overall Points:22 points


Kovler Lion House

Good

-more vibrancy to both indoor and outdoor exhibits with murals,grass and more rockwork

-better outdoor exhibits with more to do

Bad

-smaller indoor exhibits

-bad viewing (bars and across moats,through mess)

-less holding

-less breeding

Overall Points:6 points


Winner-Cat Complex
 
Sorry, but I really don't think the Cat Complex in Omaha is that bad. They have lots of enrichment items in their cages, and plus they are breeding. I am sorry but I rather have a sterile block wall instead of some fake unnatural mural that just tries to hide how bad the cage really is. I also think the cats at Kovler pace a whole lot more. I know of a cat house that is worse than the two and it's Cleveland's Primate, Cat, and Aquatic building. The Snow Leopard cage is four times as small as snything in Omaha and literally has nothing in it except for the grey concrete walls and a small resting place.
 
I've seen pictures of the Celevland snow leopard exhibit and it does look terrible.
 
I hope they're going to replace Cat Complex with spaceous cat exhibits with more natural setting and stimulation for guests.
 
Hippopotamus said:
I hope they're going to replace Cat Complex with spaceous cat exhibits with more natural setting and stimulation for guests.
Click to expand...

But, with the elephant complex, madagascar house and tundra exhibit, is it feasable that this will happen anytime soon? It really annoys me when zoos splash out on new exhibits for animals new to the zoo when their existing enclosures desperately need renovation. And, until the cat complex does get renovated, the zoo will continue to boast about how it is the largest in america :mad:.
 
I agree with redpanda 100%. It's a huge pet peeve of mine when zoos spend $40 million or some similar vast amount of cash on a brand new exhibit instead of drastically bulldozing, overhauling, renovating or expanding a current set of enclosures that have fallen into disrepair. Omaha is an excellent zoo and it has hugely ambitious plans to perhaps eventually be the best zoo in North America, but the big cat complex is horrendous, the bear grottoes are outdated, and there are many other little things that need to be looked at around the zoo. I rank it as a top 5 zoo, but it puzzles me that they are planning to add more and more exhibits while the current ones continue to age badly.
 
Cat Houses and Omaha

For my money, Cincinnati's Cat House is worse than those at Omaha and Lincoln Park. As mentioned before, Cleveland's is certainly very poor as well. And while I agree that Omaha's exclusion of renovating the Cat Complex in the foreseeable future is disappointing, I certainly understand in part why they made the decision. As bad as the cat area is, the elephant area is much worse, both physically and socially unstimulating. And the new arctic area will provide a new home for the polar bears currently housed in the less than impressive Bear Canyon. Additionally, with the new AZA standards for elephant care and the well documented added pressure from zoo critics regarding elephants in zoos, Omaha had to put them as a priority. Polar bears are right behind elephants in many critics minds, so I can understand that as well. The Madagascar exhibit is so high just because of all the research and money the zoo has put into animals from the island. In addition to the Cat Complex and Bear Canyon, the Children's area is in desperate need of renovation, so there is a lot on their plate out there. It's these disappointments that make Omaha such a fascinating enigma since they have several superb exhibits to counter with.
 
Having now seen both there is no reason to argue which is worse they both need to be done away with and with so much improvement going on at Omaha its really disapointing that nothing is going to be done with Big Cats anytime soon.Perhaps at some point they they might rethink this .

Team Tapir
 
Having not seen the two cat houses this thread is titled for, I cannot imagine either is worse than the one at Denver Zoo (which I have seen).
 
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