The last I heard about the master plan is that the Zoo is waiting for the final documents of the now completed master plan. Several possibilities have been mentioned such as new sea lion and polar bear areas, a new facility with sharks, something done to the Australian and Small Mammals buildings, and of course, new elephant and hippo exhibits.
Right now, the Zoo is redesigning its lion and black bear exhibits. The black bear exhibit already has a small waterfall and large bare trees, with the whole thing scheduled to be completed by 2015. The lion exhibit will be slightly expanded and several naturalistic and enriching parts will be added as well. A renovation to the outdoor gorilla exhibit is also planned for next year, with the addition of a pond, more vegetation, and a few platforms.
As for the elephants, with more zoos revealing new elephant habitats for their futures, I'm getting a bit skeptical about Milwaukee's future with elephants. I've always said the Zoo should send them away so they can focus on other much needed areas (like the bears, primates, and Small Mammal areas), and only bring elephants back if the money is right and elephants are available (maybe a bull herd?). I also thought of probably expanding into the next door warthog exhibit and filling in the moat to allow for a third elephant to be housed there (only temporarily though until a new habitat is built).
The last I heard about the master plan is that the Zoo is waiting for the final documents of the now completed master plan. Several possibilities have been mentioned such as new sea lion and polar bear areas, a new facility with sharks, something done to the Australian and Small Mammals buildings, and of course, new elephant and hippo exhibits.
I have heard about the elephants, Australia, and Small Mammals but where did you hear about the shark facility and polar bear/sea lion exhibits? I'd love to hear more about that.
@Wild wolverine: I found the information about the possible polar bear, sea lion, and shark facilities in this article from last year - it requires a subscription, but I was somehow able to view the entire article without doing so.
Regarding polar bears and sea lions, I always thought that the open area in front of the caribou would make a nice, large area for a new polar bear habitat (if money allows and polar bears are available). Once that is done, the current seal pool (currently holding just harbor seals) could be redesigned and expanded into the polar bear area, and the sea lions could be brought back from their show area near Macaque Island.
