Polar Bear @ Chester; circa 1987

I have uploaded this photo, as I think it gives a good view of one end of the former Polar Bear enclosure. This is now the end of the European Aviary where all the rock work is. The photo was taken with my back to the Tiger enclosure. The dark bar down the middle is because the teenage me hadn\'t quite got the hang of framing an image correctly!

It might have been the bees knees of polar bear enclosures at the time, but you can see how dated it looks looking back at the photos. Just goes to prove that enclosures should be made adaptable, since this enclosure was considered brilliant only 15-20 years ago (which sounds like a long time, but it is quite quick for a whole attitude/understanding to change in my opinion).

Sorry, Javan Rhino, but 20 years ago = only 1990, just before Sabrina died. To call this enclosure brilliant, you'd have to go back at least 50 years, if not more. To be honest, I'm not sure exactly when this enclosure was built. I know it was after WWII. Maybe Bongorob can supply the answer on that one...? Scary how quickly the years fly by.

Bwassa said:

Sorry, Javan Rhino, but 20 years ago = only 1990, just before Sabrina died. To call this enclosure brilliant, you'd have to go back at least 50 years, if not more. To be honest, I'm not sure exactly when this enclosure was built. I know it was after WWII. Maybe Bongorob can supply the answer on that one...? Scary how quickly the years fly by.

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I thought it was still considered decent (one of the best in Britain) right until they went out of Polar Bears in the early 90's? That is what I was refering to

Bwassa said:

I'm not sure exactly when this enclosure was built. I know it was after WWII.

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It was built in 1949/50 and officially opened on June 21st, 1950 by Gwen Pain of BBC Northern Children's Hour. It was dedicated to Miss Tompkyns-Grafton. The pool contained approximately 350,000 gallons of water and the rocks were huge individual pieces of Portland stone.

Bwassa said:

The dark bar down the middle is because the teenage me hadn\'t quite got the hang of framing an image correctly!

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what sort of camera did you take the photo with? Back then I had a dodgy rectangular point-and-shoot camera where the viewing window and the lens were at opposite ends, so I also ended up with many photos not being quite what I expected

To be honest, I can't really remember what camera I was using. I think I'd just borrowed my Mum's, as I didn't have my own at the time. It would have been something basic.

Bwassa said:

Sorry, Javan Rhino, but 20 years ago = only 1990, just before Sabrina died. To call this enclosure brilliant, you'd have to go back at least 50 years, if not more. To be honest, I'm not sure exactly when this enclosure was built. I know it was after WWII. Maybe Bongorob can supply the answer on that one...? Scary how quickly the years fly by.

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I can remember her arriival being widely trumpeted at RP in 1969, as a mate for Pipaluk.

Just found this old clip on YouTube...

POLAR BEARS - SABRINA AND PIPALUK. - British Pathe

That is not youtube, but still very interesting

Javan Rhino said:

I thought it was still considered decent (one of the best in Britain) right until they went out of Polar Bears in the early 90's? That is what I was refering to

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I think that's a fair comment as virtually no new Polar Bar enclosures were built in the UK for several decades before that- so Chester's was still superior to all the others, though of course by the 90's Polar Bears were regarded as 'bad' exhibits for Zoos to have, they were being phased out and the enclosures, even Chester's, all looked very dated by then.

In the 1950/60's, Chester's enclosure did appear far more spacious and suitable for the Polar Bears than the much smaller/poorer enclosures at the other Zoos keeping them at the time; Bristol, London, Whipsnade, Dudley, Belle Vue, Chessington, Flamingo Park (a bit later), Edinburgh - I may have missed a couple..