Former bear enclosure at Mulhouse 29/08/09

Unbelievably this pair of cages still held a pair of Brown Bear and a pair of Polar until the early 1980s. Now home to owls, the historic structure will be incorporated into the new Polar Bear enclosure as an eductional point, which is something I very much approve of.

That's such a cool idea! Can't believe this was housing bears until the 80's though. Do you have any plans or anything for the new polar bear exhibit?

I don't think detailed plans are available as yet. Sounds like it'll be good though.

On the tour of the zoo at the recent collectors' meeting, the director of the zoo did say that this enclosure was in use until the early 80s as a bear cage.

However, in a guidebook dated 1977, the 'new' polar bear enclosure is featured (on the front cover and within), and this cage is labelled on the map as being "Vallee des Nocturnes" - which I take to mean it was housing owls (as it is now).

This would mean that its use as a bear cage goes back about ten years further - which doesn't make it any the less pleasant as a place in which to house two pairs of bears, of course.