Polar Bear enclosure at Flamingo Land, mid-1990s

It's tough to look at such inhumane exhibits, but then again polar bears usually get shafted with deplorable enclosures in zoos worldwide.

At one time, in about the 1960-70's, this exhibit used to hold a mixed group of bears- Polar, Brown, Himalayan and Sun Bear, all in together!!

i remember seeing this in the late 80,s does anyone know what happened to this polar bear , found the info out in other threads x

I was watching an episode of zoo-vet at large in which a polar bear from this enclosure was featured....I think it may of had somehting wrong with its foot but I can't really remember.

There are 1.1 Polar bear in the photo. At the time, Flamingoland also held a European Brown Bear, which may have also been sharing this enclosure. In 1992, the female had two cubs, which survived, and were the last polar bears to be born in the UK. The female reared the cubs in the largest section of the exhibit (the nearest in the photo), while the male was mixed with the brown bear in the smaller section (behind the separation fence in the photo). Behind the concrete mound in the smaller section was another small pool, filled with woodchips, which the polar bears would roll in.

I assume the male died. The cubs were sent abroad when they were weaned, and the female died around 2000 I think. I don't know what happened to the brown bear.

Does anyone know what this exhibit is currently used for?

I was lucky enough to look after these polar bears and 1 brown bear at flamingo land zoo