John Ball Zoo John Ball Zoo (Grand Rapids, MI)

JBZBongo said:
Personally, I think that the bear exhibit is superb! Natural grass, waterfall, and an interactive wall. It isn't Minnesota Zoo, but for the small amount of space I think they did a good job.
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Superb? The fact that you said "for the small amount of space" is proof enough that the bear exhibit is not good enough, and that they need more space. I don't mean to be critical, but personally, I think you need to realize that not every exhibit at JBZ is good. I love a lot of their African exhibits (lions, bongos, chimps, etc.), but it's clear that the bear exhibit renovation should have included an expansion.
 
reduakari said:
I think the "mock rock" was already there. The money was largely spent on filling an existing moat, adding a front mesh and glass barrier. These days, that IS about all that a million dollars will buy you.....
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Exactly! Here is a photo that I took on my visit 10 months ago and the $1 million renovation has not added a great deal to the overall quality of the exhibit. Is it better? Yes, but still FAR too small. Is the revamped enclosure a significant upgrade? Perhaps, but there is a steep woodland area behind the bear exhibit and that would have been a perfect site for a brand-new complex next to the future Amur Tiger habitat. The renovated exhibit is simply adequate and JBZBongo loves it because that individual volunteers at the zoo. ZooChatters are almost universally biased in favour of their local stomping ground.:)

http://www.zoochat.com/575/grizzly-bear-coastal-brown-bear-exhibit-286314/
 
BeardsleyZooFan said:
Superb? The fact that you said "for the small amount of space" is proof enough that the bear exhibit is not good enough, and that they need more space. I don't mean to be critical, but personally, I think you need to realize that not every exhibit at JBZ is good. I love a lot of their African exhibits (lions, bongos, chimps, etc.), but it's clear that the bear exhibit renovation should have included an expansion.
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I understand a lot of exhibits aren't good. I never said that I liked all of them. I just think the bear exhibit is really well done for the amount of space available. The zoo tripled the bears space.
 
I fear this is another case of Zoochat armchair quarterbacking.
Is this one of the top 37 bear exhibits on Earth? No. But that is an irrelevant statistic.

The zoo apparently looked to improve the condition of the bears and create a better experience for visitors. They managed to raise $1million, which is nothing in US construction today.
With that they:
expanded the useable space for the bears,
gave them a fair amount of natural substrate,
added trees for (eventual) shade,
increased enrichment opportunities with all of that plus the training wall.
See: http://media.mlive.com/grpress/news...l-zoo-bears-profile-2jpg-cf543fa94ecbc351.jpg

The only funds spent (again, by what we learn in the video) on something other than the bears was the removal of some rockwork in the rear (which, truth be told, is an expensive part of the project I am sure). The pool was relocated, but the old site became more natural substrate.

All in all, not a bad return on that investment.

To expand the bear exhibit up the hill would cost considerably more... which I assume the zoo could not fund.
So do I take it that the critics here are
1. saying the zoo should get rid of the bears?
2. simply ticked off at another Zoochat member's pride and poor use of adjectives when posting about the home zoo?
3. ignoring economic realities and blindly insisting that this zoo ought to have built Russia's Grizzly Coast?

I do not, personally, agree that the "bear exhibit is really well done for the amount of space available". I do feel that it looks, from the video, that the zoo did well with what they had to work with (both the old exhibit to be renovated and the $1million with which to do it). That should be appreciated rather than carped at
 
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ZooChat armchair quarterbacking is a fair assessment of common practice on this site, but I have personally toured this zoo and the new enclosure doesn't seem much different from the old one. I have stated three times on this thread that the new exhibit is an upgrade and overall an improvement, but what bothers me is the acceptance of mediocre new endeavours by zoos. Even the newscasters are to be found praising the enclosure to the high heavens when in fact it seems adequate at best and mediocre at worst.

In the video that Shirokuma posted there is a quote that states the exhibit is "not really any bigger" and from photos and videos online it seems that if the bear enclosure is actually larger then the results are hardly noticeable. I would have liked to have seen the zoo pursue options in the dense, steep woodland above the current pathway (even pushing back the Amur Tiger exhibit that will soon be placed there), or sent its bears away in favour of a smaller mammal species. Building a Grizzly Bear exhibit along the forest trail instead of bringing in a brand-new species to the zoo would have been perfectly acceptable, with the current bear exhibit tailored to hold something like a group of coatis, raccoons or shifting the bobcats in that direction. John Ball Zoo has some spectacular, modern exhibits (lions, chimpanzees, African hoofstock) but the latest addition shows very little evidence of progress. Folks can defend the enclosure all they want, but nothing much has changed at this solid little zoo.
 
snowleopard said:
ZooChat armchair quarterbacking is a fair assessment of common practice on this site, but I have personally toured this zoo and the new enclosure doesn't seem much different from the old one. I have stated three times on this thread that the new exhibit is an upgrade and overall an improvement, but what bothers me is the acceptance of mediocre new endeavours by zoos. Even the newscasters are to be found praising the enclosure to the high heavens when in fact it seems adequate at best and mediocre at worst.

In the video that Shirokuma posted there is a quote that states the exhibit is "not really any bigger" and from photos and videos online it seems that if the bear enclosure is actually larger then the results are hardly noticeable. I would have liked to have seen the zoo pursue options in the dense, steep woodland above the current pathway (even pushing back the Amur Tiger exhibit that will soon be placed there), or sent its bears away in favour of a smaller mammal species. Building a Grizzly Bear exhibit along the forest trail instead of bringing in a brand-new species to the zoo would have been perfectly acceptable, with the current bear exhibit tailored to hold something like a group of coatis, raccoons or shifting the bobcats in that direction. John Ball Zoo has some spectacular, modern exhibits (lions, chimpanzees, African hoofstock) but the latest addition shows very little evidence of progress. Folks can defend the enclosure all they want, but nothing much has changed at this solid little zoo.
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I don't disagree, snowleopard.
It does, though, appear that by converting the more or less useless space of the moat into useable natural substrate area for the bears, their usable space increased by perhaps 30% even though the outline of the enclosure was untouched....unless of course the bottom of the moat had been their favored space before?
 
snowleopard said:
ZooChat armchair quarterbacking is a fair assessment of common practice on this site, but I have personally toured this zoo and the new enclosure doesn't seem much different from the old one. I have stated three times on this thread that the new exhibit is an upgrade and overall an improvement, but what bothers me is the acceptance of mediocre new endeavours by zoos. Even the newscasters are to be found praising the enclosure to the high heavens when in fact it seems adequate at best and mediocre at worst.

In the video that Shirokuma posted there is a quote that states the exhibit is "not really any bigger" and from photos and videos online it seems that if the bear enclosure is actually larger then the results are hardly noticeable. I would have liked to have seen the zoo pursue options in the dense, steep woodland above the current pathway (even pushing back the Amur Tiger exhibit that will soon be placed there), or sent its bears away in favour of a smaller mammal species. Building a Grizzly Bear exhibit along the forest trail instead of bringing in a brand-new species to the zoo would have been perfectly acceptable, with the current bear exhibit tailored to hold something like a group of coatis, raccoons or shifting the bobcats in that direction. John Ball Zoo has some spectacular, modern exhibits (lions, chimpanzees, African hoofstock) but the latest addition shows very little evidence of progress. Folks can defend the enclosure all they want, but nothing much has changed at this solid little zoo.
Click to expand...
Totally agree!

The tiger exhibit will hopefully be excellent for the tigers. As for more new exhibits, I heard some keepers say that eventually the zoo will expand south with more African exhibits.
 
Happy to hear the news is finally public, this is sure to invigorate the treasures of the tropics building which has always been a favorite of the public.
 
The zoo currently has three penguin chicks. Also, for the first time ever the zoo has had Chilean flamingo eggs laid at the zoo. Currently we have two eggs that are being artificially incubated and we still have the opportunity for eggs from 2 more pairs. This has been a very good breeding year for the zoo!
 
Does anyone know where i could find a detailed layout or pdf of the zoo's lion exhibit?
 
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