The backdrop to this exhibit with musk ox and caribou and the evergreen forest beyond are part of what made this one of the most important and influential exhibits ever opened in North America. Rumor has it that when it first opened David Hancocks (then still director of the nearby Seattle Zoo) visited and declared it the best zoo exhibit in the world.
Clearly, time has passed and zoos now know much more about what is needed to make habitats better for polar bears. But most discouragingly the exhibit was modified last year with an addition of a 4 foot steel fence on the back side of the formerly hidden moat, after someone measured and realized it was well short of the recommended minimum height (post SF zoo tiger incident). It ruined the aesthetics of the exhibit, and underscores that the bear space was never that big ......
I've always been quite critical of this enclosure and think that it is average at best. I shudder at the thought of a steel fence blocking what is a beautiful view, and it is startling how some exhibits age badly in the zoo world. Tropic World and this polar bear habitat are both over 25 years old and are not the classics that they once were, while the African Savanna and gorilla enclosures at the Woodland Park Zoo are both about 30 years old and are still splendid examples of high quality exhibitry.
