I love large themed areas like this (I mean the whole Grizzly Ridge village and exhibit, not just this building). If it had a puma exhibit included (or any other cat), might be enough to make me visit Akron!
I love large themed areas like this (I mean the whole Grizzly Ridge village and exhibit, not just this building). If it had a puma exhibit included (or any other cat), might be enough to make me visit Akron!
I think a puma or even a bobcat exhibit would have been cool. The zoo had a bobcat exhibit in the 1980s and 1990s. Originally there was going to be a black bear exhibit where the red wolf and coyote exhibits are located. Their exhibits were elsewhere, but it works better the way it turned out since the two canine species got better exhibits because of it. The zoo has jaguars, snow leopards, African lions, and Sumatran tigers. We did not have any canine species. This is why there are no cats in the area. It does not mean that the zoo would not get them in the future. After the levy (hopefully) passes in the fall, the zoo wants to do some renovations to current exhibits and add another large animal area. Nothing more is known about the zoo’s plans at this time. I would expect Tiger Valley to get some work done for sure. They need to replace the former gibbon exhibit and fix the bottleneck in the Asian Trial section of the area. This section only opened in 1998 and 1999, so I do not see a major overhaul though on most of the current exhibits. Journey to the Reef will likely be revamped for summer 2015 or summer 2016. Since it is a rotating exhibit, I wish they would build a small aquarium building that would hold permanently what the zoo has plus some extra room for several larger exhibits and some smaller exhibits. Nothing that is to fancy, but is right for Akron. It would be nice to see a permanent aquatic exhibit.
Re: black bears - you will never hear me complain about the decision to upgrade the wolf exhibit from the original plan, however, to have had a side-by-side grizzly bear vs. black bear enclosures (as the original blueprint entailed) would have been an awesome educational juxtaposition for visitors.
Re: future plans - I agree, the bottleneck that is the barking deer/red panda/stork walkway is a nightmare for anyone with a stroller or wheelchair on busy days. A complete redesign from the swans to the defunct gibbon exhibit to the deer/panda area would be great. I'm sure not popular, but you could take out the old adjacent aviary, as well. Invest into wider walkways and larger-capacity, themed exhibits. Or, as you mentioned, TV98, a substantially-sized building of any type that could provide a sheltered break on snowy, winter days or for rainbursts would be a welcome addition.
Re: black bears - you will never hear me complain about the decision to upgrade the wolf exhibit from the original plan, however, to have had a side-by-side grizzly bear vs. black bear enclosures (as the original blueprint entailed) would have been an awesome educational juxtaposition for visitors.
Re: future plans - I agree, the bottleneck that is the barking deer/red panda/stork walkway is a nightmare for anyone with a stroller or wheelchair on busy days. A complete redesign from the swans to the defunct gibbon exhibit to the deer/panda area would be great. I'm sure not popular, but you could take out the old adjacent aviary, as well. Invest into wider walkways and larger-capacity, themed exhibits. Or, as you mentioned, TV98, a substantially-sized building of any type that could provide a sheltered break on snowy, winter days or for rainbursts would be a welcome addition.
The older aviary might be old, but it it is not out of date. There are only three remaining historic structures left. The pony barn, the Don Drumm restrooms, and the aviary. There may be a fight to removing it. There are too many pretty trees inside and in front of it. The Don Drumm restrooms are going no where since they just renovated them. The Don Drumm restrooms are the Wild Prairie restrooms with the Don Drumm animal art on the front. I could see the older aviary modified, but I hope it is not removed when Tiger Valley gets modified. I overheard a discussion about the Asian Trail bottleneck. The people involved did mention taking down the aviary, but moving the path over to where the aviary and modify exhibits to go along with it. This would be okay, but I am not sure if I see this happening as this was at least four or five years ago. The zoo is looking for new residents for the older aviary. Depending on what they get will establish the future of the exhibit.
