BlackRhino: from a strictly rethorical (spelling?) point of view you actually do have a point here, but unlike you I don´t think that this is a laughing matter.
However, now it is late in Sweden and I bid all you forumsters online a good night!
Well to me thats sort of ridiculous if Jaguar Cove is illegal. While I can see Sweden has the animals needs in mind they are being really extreme. At Cleveland Zoo, our Persian Leopard Dara is confined to a cage probably 50 square feet and he fares just fine through the night with the enrichment he is given from his keeper.
Instead of losign such a great cat collection, maybe they could just renovate this entire area into a Bit Cats Falls type exhibit and turn the indoor areas into the holding building while having huge, outdoor exhibits
@BlackRhino:
You haven´t seen Swedish prison cells... comfortable (albeit small) one room apartments with tv, bookshelf and computer. I am not kidding and I do not say that this is good, especially since I am a genuine conservative when it comes to crime and punishment, law and order etc. But that´s the way it is in Sweden...
This leopard might well have an outdoor enclosure, but not all of the cats in this house have access to anything other than what is shown in the photo. The Kovler Lion House was built in 1912, and the "Great Hall" is architecturally wonderful but downright disgraceful for holding large or small cats. The noise level alone is enough for anyone to heap derogatory comments upon the outdated building, but none of the indoor enclosures are anything more than archaic cages that are literally almost a century old.
Pretty sure all of the big cats have outdoor exhibits that they have access to at times.
Another example of a zoo getting punished because their indoor viewing is as prominent as their outdoor viewing. If they only had the outdoor viewing, the cat exhibits would have much better reviews, yet nothing would be different..=
This building was built in 1912 and once had 13 cages with bars and ceramic tiled walls. The 13 cages were reduced to 5 and the bars were replaced with piano wire. I prefer this exhibit to the ones I saw at the St. Louis Zoo which were basically concrete pits which gave the leopards vertical height but forced the visitor to look down on them. I have not seen Jaguar Cove yet? Lincoln Park Zoo is a very small zoo, only 34 acres, but visitors can see the animals up close.
I'm not convinced that the cats actually do have full access to their outdoor exhibits, as locked sliding doors makes me think that the felines do not have a set of keys beneath their paws. In all seriousness the outdoor yards at the Lincoln Park Zoo are not that spacious, and this 97 year-old building should be renovated for much smaller animals. Also, the echoes and noise level inside the building is so poor that I believe that fact alone makes it disturbing that big cats are kept in such surroundings.
There are 2 exhibits on the north end of the building, one for lions (west end) and one for tigers (east end) and only the lions and tigers have access to both their indoor and outdoor space. I'm not a zoo professional so I can't comment on the required spatial dimensions for big cats? But, I can say the lions and tigers (not the current couple but in the past) have successfully bred.
Re: the acoustics, there is a spot on the floor where your conversation can be heard at the other end of the building!
The south side of the building was pulled out a bit 3 or 4 years ago and that was the last renovation. I don't know if there'll be anymore renovations? The zoo's endowment fund took a big hit earlier this year, staff were laid off, even Kevin Bell, the prez, reduced his salary.
I've been a visitor to the Lincoln Park Zoo for almost 50 years. I remember what it use to look like and believe me, what we have now is so much better.
Some trivia, Lincoln Park Zoo had a very successful snow leopard breeding program, something like 51 cubs.
