What to do with "Mercedes"? » Edinburgh Zoo

What to do with "Mercedes"?
12-08-2008

All the talk of Mercedes on the giant panda thread, got me to thinking we need a new thread on this subject.
The current polar bear enclosure at Edinburgh is the original brown bear enclosure from when the zoo opened in 1913, it is far from ideal the pool is far too small and the water quality is far from ideal, the land area is not too bad with a lot of natural substrate a rocky area at the front and an off exhibit cage too.
From a public viewpoint the iron bars on the outside are a very bad impression.

I do think polar bears will feature at the Edinburgh zoo in the future, there has been talk of the bear going to the HWP, but i think Mercedes will see out her years at Edinburgh.
In an ideal world world she would have gone north and the current Japanese macaque would have made an ideal "cheap" enclosure, see the picture.
Japanese macaque enclosure and boardwalk at HWP » ZooBeat Photo Gallery

12-08-2008

I went to edinburgh a few weeks ago and noticed no sterotypical behaviour in mercedes at all, on the contrary she seems very content and happy, playing with a barrel and old fish skin in the water. However i do think the state of her enclosure is apalling, i have never seen so much litter in an enclosure, and the state of the water was awful. The only plus side is the substrate is not too bad, but she needs much more space. At the end of my day i purchased edinburgh's 'guidebook' from the shop. It's more of a past, present, future book than a guide book but in the future section there is an artists illustration of a brand new polar bear exhibit, with underwater viewing. I think that it is something that the zoo wish to build in the future, as part of there 20 year masterplan. Kiang has uploaded the picture in the gallery:

A vision of a possible polar bear enclosure at Edinburgh zoo » ZooBeat Photo Gallery

If this enclosure is built it will be an obvious improvement, but i think it looks still too small for 1 polar bear let alone 3 as pictured, after all polar bears roam for thousands of miles in the wild.

12-08-2008

Promoting a plan for a new polar bear exhibit should keep them free of some of the critisism at least-people think, 'oh, but they're going to build a new enclosure for the Polar Bear(s) soon so that's okay' -the Zoo can float this idea indefinately if they wish to. Not saying they don't intend to build a new enclosure, but promoting the idea is probably equally as important for them...

No zoo enclosure for Polar Bears can replicate the distances they travel in the wild, but neither do Brown bear enclosures and they can travel big distances too. People tend not to complain about their enclosures so much though.

12-08-2008

The sharpest criticism came (and will come) due to the plan to acquire more bears. There is no way Edinburgh will spend the captital on a new exhibit unless they bring new bears in, so that is why they may be delaying things. At one point, 2011 was suggested for a new Polar bear exhibit in a press release. If they can be so progressive as to build one of the best chimpanzee facilities in the world for an existing group of chimps, then they should do the same for mercedes. Her age should make that a priority.

Kiang - you are spot on.....imagine if HWP had fenced the lake and surrounding areas for bears. It would have no filtration or underwater viewing, but we would have ourselves a world-class facility for a fraction of the cost. I am very interested to know the cost of the Dublin enclosure (now housing their Amur tigers), I think they employed behavioural researchers to inform the design, it is significant that they came back with a very simple, fenced, open grassed/planted paddock with a pool, rather than fake icebergs and rocky outcrops everywhere.

13-08-2008

I saw the polar bears in their enclosure at Dublin and was very impressed . It is a shame they moved them out .

13-08-2008

I think that Edinburgh have built a new chimpanzee exhibit per se- not particularly for their existing chimps though these are benefitting as the initial inhabitants. Similarly, I don't think Mercedes comes into the equation that much , its more a case of whether they plan a 'world class' Polar Bear exhibit in the future or not.

In my experience most zoos are concerned with exhibiting species(per se) and only very rarely build specifically for individual animals, even those which become much loved zoo characters/favourites in their own right. The indiuvidual animals which fill the exhibits are largely interchangeable/expendable.(an example- London's recent Gorilla population) If Mercedes was still around to benefit from a new enclosure, well fine, but I think her presence or needs wouldn't affect any decisions that strongly.

13-08-2008

I think Dublin's bears left because of a progressive management decision, not out of necessity for their welfare.....an opportunity came to give them more space, and so they were rehoused. Not dissimilar from the decision by Longleat to move its elephants out to Beauval.

14-08-2008

Its a fact that at most zoos its the species, rather than the actual specimens, that are being considered when a zoo plans a new exhibit. In some case the existing specimens(or some of them) might be moved out and new more suitable ones come in(example- recent London gorillas- the two females from Dvur Kralov never saw the new Gorilla Kingdom)

In the case of Mercedes, they can't know how long she might live so drawing up any expensive plans specifically for her benefit might turn out to be foolhardy.

14-08-2008

Completely agree that Edinburgh will not build a new exhibit specifically for one animal. No zoo would. However if one zoo in the UK is likely to break the 'no-go zone' of keeping polar bears it will be Edinburgh. I don't think Highland would have the money spent on it, given all the new exhibits in recent months.

14-08-2008

Of course it would be a waste to build an exhibit for a single animal without a meaningful use for it afterwards....which is why a low-cost, naturalistic HWP enclosure would have been ideal, replacing Mercedes with brown bears once she dies. However, Edinburgh clearly have plans to continue with this species.

I think that, while it is possible to keep this species in acceptable conditions, an expensive high-impact exhibit will in the long term prove just as hard to extend or improve as the older polar bear enclosures in many zoos today. The parameters for acceptable captive habitats for this species are likely to continue to change rapidly, making many just-built bear exhibits looks extremely dated in another ten years or so.

14-08-2008

I agree that the RZSS is committed to polar bears long term but with two options on the table.
1 - Being kept at Edinburgh in the proposed oceans and wetlands biome which is to be part
of the western area of the zoo based around the current penguin enclosure down to the current main entrance.
An enclosure that would include underwater viewing from a restaurant.

2 - Creating a new enclosure at the HWP to be part of the tundra mountain biome which is changing the face of the park, but there are no plans at all for any kind of polar bear exhibit.
The only plans that exist are for polar bears at the Edinburgh site.

My personal preference is for a polar bear exhibit at the HWP the topography of the park is ideal as is the climate (much colder and much, much, much more snow in the winter) and most importantly space lots of space.
As i have said before with a little foresight the current macaque enclosure would have been an ideal location for a suitable enclosure, with relatively low costs on building a secure fence, secure housing and maybe a separation facility. a superb home for "Mercedes" could have been built, and perhaps 1 or more female bears could have been "retired" to Kincraig from other European collections freeing up some zoo spaces.
One of the reasons for changing the collection plan at HWP was to bring up the attendances at the park to around 100,000 visitors per year, and i would be quite confident that a world class enclosure for polar bears would bring in the crowds.

15-08-2008

Again I agree completely Kiang.....you bring up a point which hasn't really been touched upon....there is no reason why Edinburgh should acquire further bears in order to breed from them, when in fact it would be quite useful to create a small 'reserve' where ex-zoo bears can be rehoused and retired. It would be a perfect solution to the criticism of continuing with this species in order to promote a conservation message. There is no point in breeding them. For this purpose, again, the current macaque enclosure at HWP would have been perfect. Considering their collection plan is tundra and mountains/uplands, I don't see any reason for keeping polar bears at edinburgh other than to have another 'big name' species (sure, there will be an 'oceans and wetlands' biome, but of all the RZSS-planned biomes I would argue that 'tundra' is most appropriate). As amazing as some of the newer polar bear exhibits are, I think I would be far more inspired seeing polar bears at a distance in the setting of the highland wildlife park, as opposed to watching them up against the glass in some noisy viewing gallery at Edinburgh. I think the former would foster more respect for these animals from the public.

15-08-2008

I agree, I think that HWP would be a better long-term home for polar bears. If the plans for giant pandas at Edinburgh come to fruition, I hope RZSS will consider moving Mercedes to HWP because they will lose one drawcard species and gain another.

Whatever the long-term plans are for Mercedes I hope that they are resolved quickly, because her current enclosure is inadequate. I also hope RZSS commit sufficient resources to build a new exhibit that will do the species justice. Underwater viewing is all very well but what's in it for the bears?

15-08-2008

There's no easy answer here. I think there is a case for saying that she's an old animal and she seems content in her present accommodation which is basically aedquate: so patch it up, improve what you can reasonably improve (ie the water quality) and wait until she passes on.

Alan

15-08-2008

Captive polar bears can live until their late thirties. They are planning possibly to move her out to a zoo on the continent while a new exhibit is built at Edinburgh. Surely it would be less stress to get an enclosure ready at the HWP and make that her only move.

I disagree that there is an argument for keeping her where she is. They do a great job at enrichment, and she can often be seen looking fairly contented, but she still has fairly regular periods of stereotyped behaviour, plus the swimming area is terrible. Further to this, I would add that, given her mate choked on a child's toy, there is a risk to her health of objects being dropped accidently in the exhibit at any point.