Dudley's old Polar Bear pit in 2000

Dudley's old Polar Bear pit in 2000
15-04-2008

28-06-2008

Something confusing me, how did the polar bears not escape?
There's a really short wall to the left of the pit in this picture, and the floor to the enclosure looks to be only about 4 foot below it.
Am I missing something...?

06-01-2009

Yes, theangle of the picture is confusing, there is a huge drop on all sides so there is no way that the bears would ever get out.
Well thankfully they kind of did as the enclosure is now not used!
It's still boared up while the zoo decides what to do with it as it's a listed building.

06-01-2009

Ah ok, thanks for clearing that up

09-02-2009

can anyone tell me when they finally stopped keeping polar bears at dudley & what has been in that enclosure since
thanks

09-02-2009

I don't know exactly when the polar bears went but it was some time ago now, I'd say between 10 and 15 years, but someone on here might have an exact date.
There is currently nothing in the old bear pit, it's been boarded up for years, but you can still see inside if you stand in a certain position , although it looks pretty sad.
I'm sure the zoo have plans to re-use the pit, but their much talked about improvements seem to be taking forever and dispite much talk there seems to be little action.

09-02-2009

Thanks for that info. Spent a few hours there yesterday, outnumbered by staff & after leaving picked up a copy fo the local newspaper & front page shows the story that the local council have took so long sorting it out that the contractors have pulled out. Typical they now have £10 million to spend & could take years to get started. Wish they would get sorted soon as this could be great if they got it right. Does anyone know if their big cats are in any kind of breeding program. The lions, tigers or Snow leopard. Seems to be a lack of info in & around the zoo

09-02-2009

I'm really not surprised that the contractors pulled out, this saga has gone on for too long.
Whether it will make it better is another matter, it would certainly make the zoo much smaller, and there are certain things that can't be changed like the tecton buildings (the polar bear pit!).
As for the big cats, I'm sure I read that Dudly swapped a tiger with London(?) to try to get a good breeding pair.
The lions are a pretty rare type so I'm sure they would want to breed them if they can. Did you notice their new home is being built?
And the snow leopard, well the old one died last year, so I think they got a new one, but the last I heard he/ she couldn't mix with the other one for a while. But they are really beautiful animals.
Did you notice the lynx pen, and how many were in it? Last time I could only see one, but before there used to be at leat 3 if not 4 of them.

09-02-2009

I only saw the one tiger but it was cold so maybe more inside.The new lynx pen was good & I saw 3 in there. One was out all the time but when the red panda in the next enclosure came to the ground the other 2 appeared very quickly to investigate. I saw the new lion enclosure being built but far from finished. The zoo is a large part od dudley's history but if they do not do something soon the question is is it worth keeping the zoo. Does anyone else have an opinion if they should carry on or close?

09-02-2009

Re: Big Cat Breeding

The Asiatic lions have bred on 3 occassions, but there is only an old female left, the male died in November aged 15
The Sumatran tigers have also bred on a few occassions, but the male died last year or the previous year. The female 'sarah' was swapped with her sister 'raika' so that she could breed with London's male. However they were incompatable, and were swapped again. 'Sarah' is a well represented Sumatran tiger now,so i think she will be left to enjoy her retirement