Best snow leopard exhibits?

Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, has an okay snow leopard exhibit. But it's MUCH smaller than the exhibits for Amur tigers and Amur leopards that are also part of the Asian Highlands exhibit complex. The snow leopard's exhibit is more similarly sized to that of the Pallas' cats and Eurasian lynx. Both AZA zoos in Idaho have snow leopards as well, but once again, the exhibits are decent, but terribly small.
 
Arizona Docent said:
There are actually quite a few US Zoos with snow leopard, but in terms of exhibit, they have gotten a bad deal. None of the large, extensive designs that more popular tigers have gotten. I presume this is largely due to the need to enclose the top of a snow leopard exhibit to keep them from getting out. Cincinnati, Denver and San Antonio are all horrific and need to be demolished immediately.

Colorado Springs opened a new one last year, better than what they had, but not by much. It is still way too small and totally unacceptable for a newly-built exhibit at an AZA institution. San Diego is not very good either, part of their outdated cat canyon, but it does have lots of boulders for climbing and hiding.

There are no truly spectacular exhibits in US, none like the Zurich one that looks amazing from photos, but here's a few I've seen that are not bad. (Not great, but not bad). Bronx Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, Houston Zoo, Big Cat Rescue, Philadelphia Zoo (alternated on exhibit with amur leopard). Salt Lake City may be pretty good, but I haven't been there. Bronx Zoo's sister facility, Central Park Zoo, is opening one later this year which we all assume will be nice.
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The only true spectacular enclosure for Snow Leopards in the U.S. is Bronx. Both authors of Americas Best Zoos told be they think this is by far in away the best Snow Leopard exhibit in the nation. I also think it is excellent, and "not bad" is definitely an understatement.

Woodland Park also has an excellent enclosure that is spacious, and is built into a green hillside.

I wouldn't include Big Cat Rescue, an extremely anti-zoo slanted facility
 
I've been to the Zurich Zoo (in 2003) and it has easily the best snow leopard exhibit that I've ever seen. The best in all of North America is unquestionably the Bronx Zoo's trio of enclosures, and there is no other zoo that is even close. If I had to choose I'd say that Woodland Park and Memphis would be second and third for snow leopards in North America, and Oklahoma City also has a very nice enclosure. Some zoos, like Denver and Cincinnati, are jokes when it comes to showcasing these amazing big cats...and in fact Cincinnati has its brilliant cat collection in nothing but subpar enclosures.
 
I agree the Central Park Snow Leopard exhibit is great. Love all the info and the story quotes leading up to it.
 
Roger Williams has a large enclosure for its Snow Leopards, though most of it is rocks. It is my favorite and the yardstick by which I judge other Snow Leopard exhibits. Capron Park is smaller but okay in my opinion. The Snow Leopard exhibit that I like the least is Stone Zoos, I think it could be awesome but it is a tad small for my tastes. Then again they are cats. If they could just expand it a few feet on each side that would be a huge improvement in my opinion. I hope the shift area they have adds to their living space.
 
wensleydale said:
Roger Williams has a large enclosure for its Snow Leopards, though most of it is rocks. It is my favorite and the yardstick by which I judge other Snow Leopard exhibits. Capron Park is smaller but okay in my opinion. The Snow Leopard exhibit that I like the least is Stone Zoos, I think it could be awesome but it is a tad small for my tastes. Then again they are cats. If they could just expand it a few feet on each side that would be a huge improvement in my opinion. I hope the shift area they have adds to their living space.
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Roger Williams has a decent sized enclosure. It is bowl-shaped, flanked by mock rock and not very tall. A child could traverse it. It deceives due to viewing and winding path around it. Capron Park, is just a cage with wooden playground platforms and such. The Snow Leopard has been gone for some time and an Amur Leopard now resides there. I'm confused on how Stone Zoos Snow Leopard is small? The exhibit, only has flat land area at the bottom and on top of the rocks. The exhibit is staggered. From visitor viewing areas, the tall poles gauge the height of the exhibit where the cats can be storeys above visitors heads. Where else can you see Leopards so high up on natural rocks? Peope complain because the cats use the flat area to nap and stalk the Markhor, barely showing anything besides ears or a tail. The main exhibit is around 60' wide and 55' deep. It tapers in the back to 50' in width due to post placement after test drilling the rocks to hold the stabilization cables. It was a pain nearly two decades ago to set up, but they enclosed part of the mountain. Where else can you see Snow Leopards 45' up or so in the United States? Harry and Kira get along well and are quite active. Kira uses the mesh walls to beat Harry to the top and down. Quite the sight. The chute from holding is set back, but that is due to the rocks that would have needed to be blasted out of place and major stabilizing and structual work. Holding has decent space and there are two off-show yards behind it, if needed.
 
Gulo gulo said:
Roger Williams has a decent sized enclosure. It is bowl-shaped, flanked by mock rock and not very tall. A child could traverse it. It deceives due to viewing and winding path around it. Capron Park, is just a cage with wooden playground platforms and such. The Snow Leopard has been gone for some time and an Amur Leopard now resides there. I'm confused on how Stone Zoos Snow Leopard is small? The exhibit, only has flat land area at the bottom and on top of the rocks. The exhibit is staggered. From visitor viewing areas, the tall poles gauge the height of the exhibit where the cats can be storeys above visitors heads. Where else can you see Leopards so high up on natural rocks? Peope complain because the cats use the flat area to nap and stalk the Markhor, barely showing anything besides ears or a tail. The main exhibit is around 60' wide and 55' deep. It tapers in the back to 50' in width due to post placement after test drilling the rocks to hold the stabilization cables. It was a pain nearly two decades ago to set up, but they enclosed part of the mountain. Where else can you see Snow Leopards 45' up or so in the United States? Harry and Kira get along well and are quite active. Kira uses the mesh walls to beat Harry to the top and down. Quite the sight. The chute from holding is set back, but that is due to the rocks that would have needed to be blasted out of place and major stabilizing and structual work. Holding has decent space and there are two off-show yards behind it, if needed.
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You're right, the angle of the viewer looks can make an exhibit look larger or smaller.

I have not been back to Capron Park since they lost theirs, in my mind it is still "the Snow Leopard Exhibit" and will be until I go again, that is to say I forgot they aren't there anymore. My apologies.
 
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