Old enclosure behind the Desert LAIR

Could this be the old polar bear habitat?

SoCalChevy said:

Could this be the old polar bear habitat?

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Yes, that is the old polar bear exhibit.

Remove these old exhibit space remnants, and there is room for another LAIR outdoor exhibit.

I remember hearing that there was a purpose to the zoo leaving the remnants of the exhibit, but I completely forgot what it was...

mstickmanp said:

I remember hearing that there was a purpose to the zoo leaving the remnants of the exhibit, but I completely forgot what it was...

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Maybe they left it there so that long-time visitors will get nostalgic for polar bears and demand a new polar bear exhibit after the Rainforest of the Americas is done

Does anybody know if a new polar bear exhibit was ever in one of LA Zoo's master plans? I doubt that they would ever build one now given the expense of building a massive modern aquatic exhibit, but everyone loves polar bears so who knows. First they need new exhibits for giraffe, lion, hippo, rhino, California condor, etc etc etc...

I also hope they put in a new polar bear exhibit! I do like that they have left parts of the old one this long, though. I hadn't taken a picture of it before, and was wishing I had taken one to help me remember it. Not that there aren't pictures of it online. I guess I just wanted one of my own, to help me remember when there was a polar bear there.

The announced plans to build a new polar bear exhibit maybe some 12 or more years ago. This was all over the local TV news channels. Raising the needed funds were the major drawback.

mstickmanp said:

I remember hearing that there was a purpose to the zoo leaving the remnants of the exhibit, but I completely forgot what it was...

Click to expand...

Perhaps lack of money? Even demolishing concrete is expensive in LA. The time to have done it was when the site for LAIR was being prepared.