This exhibit opened in 1981, won Best Exhibit of the year in 1982, and was generally regarded as the #1 polar bear zoo exhibit on the planet. However, time has not been kind to the enclosure, as zoos like Detroit, Toledo, San Diego and Memphis have built larger, more spacious exhibits for their arctic bears. Now with the addition of a metal fence at the top of the moat the opportunity for seeing caribou and muskox in surrounding paddocks has been diminished. Also, the exhibit would now probably be one of the 5 smallest polar bear enclosures of any zoo in the United States. The land area is not very large at all, and there are 4 bears at the zoo.
