This looks like a very good exhibit that is another good example of the trail systems that are starting to become the norm. Hopefully the bears will be the next big project undertaken by CMZ.
This particular angle of the photo reminds me a lot of one of the Asian Forest Sanctuary exhibits at Point Defiance Zoo in the state of Washington. It is rather astonishing to see San Diego Zoo Safari Park open Tiger Territory with 3 exhibits and now Cleveland Zoo has opened Tiger Passage with 4 exhibits. In the past, zoos would build a single tiger cage or in some cases a couple of small enclosures but several zoos have fairly recently constructed tiger complexes with 2, 3 or even now 4 exhibits for a single species.
Apparently this complex provides the tigers with five times as much spaces as they had previously; however, I have not been able to find anything that gives the exact size of the complex or the individual yards. That said, none of the yards, alone, are particularly large, by any means, which was something that struck me immediately about the complex.... That and just how open they were, which I am hoping is just a result of it being brand new, so it will interesting to see how it looks once the foliage matures. Currently, only the female, Dasha, has been introduced to the exhibit, as the male, Klechka, has been reluctant to reenter his travel crate to be moved back to the exhibit from the holding at the zoo's hospital. They are planning on introducing each tiger to each yard, allowing them to become fully comfortable with each yard before being introduced to the next, and then, lastly, the overhead passages. Dasha currently has access to the third and largest yard. I was there two days after the opening, and as of then, she had only been outside for 30-45 minutes the entire day, and that was the most she had been out so far... I had a glimpse of her from Wolf Wilderness, but by the time I made it around to Tiger Passage, proper, she had gone back inside. Moving from a moated grotto to these open, netted enclosures with big glass windows and visitors being able to view them from all around is surely quite the adjustment for her! So, overall, the exhibit has a lot of really nice features, offering the cats a lot of choice with the two overhead passageways and the four varied environments with a variety of substrates and terrain, a pool, a stream, heated rocks, and a climbing pole and platform, but the fact that the yards are all rather small and all rather open and viewable from all sides are all obvious areas of concern... It is, however, without a doubt, an impressive improvement over their previous exhibit.
Thank you for your comments. As a designer on the project I can speak to some of your comments. I am not sure what you mean by "design flaws" as it was very intentional to create 4 exhibits that can be linked in a multitude of ways to either increase or decrease space. As to the overall smallness, there was a predetermined existing site to work within so the exhibits could not have been larger unless you lose the flexibility/multiple yards that the zoo wanted. I suppose you could have just had a path along the perimeter and turn most of the public space into tiger space but then it would have been just another walk-by exhibit without the overhead shifts, which the zoo did not want. As to the open-ness, the vegetation will grow in and fill it out in time. So they are not really "flaws" as much as they are concerns you have
Another reason the public path needed to run like it does as this path is now the ADA accessible path that links the bridge with the upper wilderness trek path, what is currently there is not ADA accessible.
So, overall, the exhibit has a lot of really nice features, offering the cats a lot of choice with the two overhead passageways and the four varied environments with a variety of substrates and terrain, a pool, a stream, heated rocks, and a climbing pole and platform, but the fact that the yards are all rather small and all rather open and viewable from all sides are all obvious design flaws... It is, however, without a doubt, an impressive improvement over their previous exhibit.
Thank you for your comments. As a designer on the project I can speak to some of your comments. I am not sure what you mean by "design flaws" as it was very intentional to create 4 exhibits that can be linked in a multitude of ways to either increase or decrease space. As to the overall smallness, there was a predetermined existing site to work within so the exhibits could not have been larger unless you lose the flexibility/multiple yards that the zoo wanted. I suppose you could have just had a path along the perimeter and turn most of the public space into tiger space but then it would have been just another walk-by exhibit without the overhead shifts, which the zoo did not want. As to the open-ness, the vegetation will grow in and fill it out in time. So they are not really "flaws" as much as they are concerns you have
Another reason the public path needed to run like it does as this path is now the ADA accessible path that links the bridge with the upper wilderness trek path, what is currently there is not ADA accessible.
Thank you for your insider input on the project! I do apologize, as "design flaws" was, indeed, too strong of wording for what I was meaning to say... Yes, "areas of concern" would have worked much better, but that wording was just not coming together for me at the time that I composed that post! I completely understand the limits to the sizing of the complex as a whole, as those are quite obvious when experiencing the complex, and the fact that the yards can be combined or separated in order to increase or decrease the amount of space allocated to the tigers at any given time is exactly why I said that none of the yards, alone, are particularly large; combined they will provide a good amount of space for the tigers. With regards to the foliage, that is exactly as suspected; there's nothing you can really do about that with a new complex! Nothing in my post was meant to come across as any direct criticism, per se, but more of just general comments on my experience with exhibit upon its opening. I am very interested in seeing this complex mature and reach the full potential that it was designed with, as like I said, it was an impressive improvement over what existed previously!
It has been shown in several zoo studies that size is not as important as complexity. With four linked enclosures whose access can be varied and controlled, the animals have the basis for a complex experience. Other techniques, such as herbal enrichment, will no doubt be used to add another layer of complexity to the animals' experience. One open enclose twice the area of these four together would be a lessened experience for the cats not an improved one.
Gerald Durrell always said it wasn't the size of the enclosure, but what it contained, that matters. A big open enclosure is what people might like to see, though not necessarily what the animal who lives in it wants. This looks a very interesting set up to me.
