It's incredible that something like this is able to be viewed by the public in the year 2022. The cement block that forms the 'land' section of the enclosure is so poor that I'm surprised the zoo hasn't fenced off this area and kept it as a behind the scenes zone. This 'exhibit' is small, ugly and downright depressing. I wouldn't expect acres of space and three magnificent Andean Bear exhibits like at Givskud Zoo in Denmark, but surely anything is better than what is shown in this photo. Even as a side yard it's deplorable.
@snowleopard Agreed. I always forget this is there, then get to relive the horror each time I visit. The main yard is much better, but this needs to be removed entirely, even as just a place for them get wet when they don't have cubs around and need to separate the adult pair. I will be surprised if they manage to get AZA again with this part as-is.
Losing its AZA accreditation status in early 2020 means that it's already been 2.5 years and so I don't see Salisbury Zoo regaining AZA at any point in the near future. But one never knows, as the full AZA inspection reports are never put out in the public realm and Charles Paddock Zoo keeps getting its own status renewed even with a god-awful tiger cage.
@snowleopard They are working toward it, like Pittsburgh they found out after losing accreditation that it's required by the city. It's slow going though, they don't have much money and Covid didn't help. Not having a veterinarian or building for health care was probably the biggest reason they lost AZA, so they devoted most of what money they have to having that happen. Another big change was their jaguar leaving, and they refurbished that awful exhibit into a decent one for a mother/daughter pair of Canada lynx. On my visit in early June, they were working on fixing pathways. A lot of the exhibits need cleaning up, weeding, stuff like that.
