Arizona Docent

snow leopard expansion (2020)

October 15, 2019
In the 1990s, there were signs at SF Zoo for a planned "Leopards of Asia" complex with snow leopards and Persian leopards (a leopard subspecies the zoo used to have). Obviously that never came to fruition, but it is nice to see snow leopards getting an upgrade.

The zoo also once had a small cat section built in the late 1990s. I haven't been since the late 1990s, but it's my understanding it was closed down? They once had species like jungle cat and lynx.
 
They have two small cats. Bobcat is held in a grotto across from the Lion House. It is one of a pair of adjacent grottoes, the other one housing giant anteater. The one for bobcat has netting that is clearly a recent addition, so I assume the grotto was built for a different animal that does not climb as well. They also have a fishing cat (the main reason I visited) in an enclosure attached to the side of the Lion House.
 
That fishing cat enclosure must be an addition since I last visited. Ditto to the bobcat.

Looking more into the cat complex built in the 1990s, it seems like it didn't fit ADA standards, and that's why it closed down?
 
@Anniella I don't know why it closed as this was my first visit to San Francisco Zoo. I do know they had to redo the lion and tiger grottoes to add glass barriers after the tiger escaped and killed the young man who was taunting it.
 
Funny you mention the bobcat grotto potentially housing a different species, I believe the same grotto was occupied by a bobcat last I visited in 2013, and there was no netting.
 

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