Kansas City Zoo - Polar Bears or Grizzlies?

With global warming and climate change in the works, it will be not too long before a dirge of exhausted and emaciated polar bears will be candidates for zoo exhibit.

NOTA BENE: early melting ice sheets, fewer winter hunting opportunities and less winter habitat for pregnant females to have their offspring and increased competition among individual polar bears for food (viz the 2009 Iceland polar bear highlight .. the bear swam to ... but was so exhausted ... it died under anaesthesia).
 
The Kansas City Zoo had plans to build a grizzly bear exhibit around the entrance as a part of a six year, sixty million dollar plan that included the 2004 bond passage of thirty million dollars in capital improvement and another thirty million through private donations.

From the looks of an exhibit concept back in 04, it would have a been a large sloping exhibit with multiple tiers, plenty of vegetation, log climbing structures, and waterfalls.

It was supposed to be part of a future Missouri Trails/North America exhibit featuring black bears, gray wolves, mountain goats, and plenty of other North American megafuana.

If grizzlies are displayed instead of polar bears, its likely they will remain on exhibit until a new home is built for them, thus allowing polar bears to return back to the zoo.
 
Wasnt the originial plan to place a polar bear exhibit between the elephants and the new tropic house?
 
From okapikr Wasnt the originial plan to place a polar bear exhibit between the elephants and the new tropic house?

Yes, the polar bear exhibit was originially penned for the central valley between the elephants and "The Tropics" exhibit. It was supposed to be the centerpiece of a new "Arctic Shores" exhibit area complete with pinnipeds (thats seals for anyone who doesn't know what that means), puffins, arctic fox, and visitor amenties.

The polar bear exhibit would have been the first phase of this new exhibit area as approved with the passage of a 30 million dollar bond issue for the zoo back in April of 2004.

However, the original site had so many problems from drainage to the foundation (I believed it was solid bedrock or something similar) and this would have put additional costs to the project which the zoo didn't have the money to fix the sites' problems. So the zoo decided to move the polar bear exhibit to a less troublesome spot outside the main entrance.

There are no plans for the central valley to my knowledge.
 
Thanks of the insight...that's a shame there a no plans for the central valley now, its seems to be a rather large space of property.
 
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