Is this an adequate bear exhibit or an awful one? I genuinely can't tell. If one compares it to Woodland Park Zoo and Minnesota it looks awful and appears to have almost no enrichment or natural substrate. On the other hand it is pretty large (as large as Woodland Park or Minnesota?) and does have a pond and some climbing areas and presumably other enrichment opportunities.
This is no where near the size of Minnesota Zoo's Russia Grizzly Coast bear exhibit. This is pretty much the same set up as the other bear exhibits, no natural substrate, not really a pond more of a pool and the climbing structure is used for shade primarily. However the bears in this exhibit are Kodiak bears and they are more active than the other bears at the zoo, so while it is not adequate it would seem to work until a new exhibit could be created further down the line. Don't know if there are any plans to build new bear exhibits at the Milwaukee County Zoo, as the new master plan is being tabulated now
I personally feel as if this bear exhibit is atrocious, with the bears walking on concrete all of their lives. What is there for the bears to do besides take a dip in the pool and pine away their existence? Milwaukee County Zoo has a staggering number of barely adequate exhibits that were all built decades ago, and it is has now been something like 22 years since the last major habitat was constructed. I cannot wait for the new master plan to be released (early 2013?) and I just hope that it involves several bulldozers!
