The bear "pits" at the Wellington Zoo (actually raised slopes rather than pits) were, in the 1980s, divided into two small enclosures. The one on the right housed this American Black Bear and the one on the left had an Asiatic Black Bear (although the latter animal had died not long before my visit in 1988). The remnant of the dividing wall can still be seen on the enclosure today.
The American Black Bear went off display in 1991 to allow the bear pits to be redeveloped into a Sun Bear enclosure.
Currently the enclosure is under redevelopment again into a Snow Leopard enclosure (it has been empty since 2012 when the Sun Bears moved to an entirely new enclosure).
The enclosure can now only be viewed from the front but in the 1980s there was a visitor path along the top as well, from which the photo above was taken. Today when looking at the enclosure (from the front) you can see the top of the fence of the lion enclosure above it, but in the 1980s there was a Dromedary enclosure up there - roughly where the lion enclosure is today.
