It was 103 when I was there last summer. The cats didn't look like they enjoyed it much. The jaguar was outside and panting pretty bad but was still roaring.
I didn't feel the cat complex to be as bad as its reputation. Even these smaller exhibits had free access to outdoor cages. In fact most of the cats were outdoors on my visit. It's still very ugly though.
I didn't feel the cat complex to be as bad as its reputation. Even these smaller exhibits had free access to outdoor cages. In fact most of the cats were outdoors on my visit. It's still very ugly though.
I don't think they all have access to the outdoors and the Siberian tiger enclosure that makes up a sort of courtyard is painfully small and that cat was panting pretty heavily on my last visit with no access to water. The only part of that exhibit that I do like is the lions' area and the tiger area at one of the entrances, even though the water was green and disgusting.
What I've heard over the past few years (since Dennis Pate took over for the legendary Lee Simmons) is that the 1970's-era Cat Complex has seen a gradual decline in the actual number of felines on exhibit. I'd heard in the past that many cats were rotated through the building and thus at times quite a few of them would be locked indoors for many hours of the day. If I'm not mistaken there is a plan to demolish the structure in the future (the likely scenario) or at the very least completely overhaul it as part of the long-range Master Plan. I think that everyone knows that it is well past its due date and along with Bear Canyon (built in 1989) it represents an older era of the zoo.
