I don't know if there is already a thread for this but I couldn't find any specific thread for this. I've long been more or less fascinated by mixed wolf and bear enclosures, especially with the interaction between the 2 species and how these enclosures look. Please post as little as possible about your opinion of these mixed wolf and bear enclosures (this could quickly create long disagreements/arguments) but just about zoos that you know that have or had a wolf and bear mix in the past. The only zoo I 've visited that still has a wolf and bear mix is Pairi Daiza, where they have a large mixed enclosure with European brown bears and Eurasian wolfs in the The Last Frontier section. The enclosure is very beautiful and very large and is perhaps the largest and especially most beautiful bear enclosure and or wolf enclosure I have ever seen. There are also hotel rooms under a hill (Full Moon Lodge) where you can observe the animals very well and the wolves and bears even come up to the window purely out of curiosity. The enclosure has a stream, a forest and a more open area with grass, tree stumps and rocks. Also in Pairi Daiza, at The Last Frontier, there is an American black bear and European brown bear enclosure that also housed Mackenzie Valley wolves in the past. However, there were problems between the animals so the Mackenzie Valley wolves moved in 2020 to a new and also beautiful enclosure in The Land Of The Cold, where they have a much smaller enclosure, but still very good. Pakawi Park also originally housed Hudson Bay wolves in the bear enclosure (opened in 2008) with Hudson Bay wolves. However, there were problems between the animals so over time the wolves moved to an adjacent enclosure. So now the wolves can still see the bears, and vice versa, but they no longer live together. The wolf enclosure is very nice and large though, as the enclosure for the Hudson Bay wolves is about 3185 m2 (34283 ft2) in size.
Ouwenhands Dierenpark has wolves living in the bear forest. Dierenrijk also once housed bears with wolves, but unfortunately they had an accident resulting in the death of one wolf at the paws and mouths of bears. I couldn't immediately find whether they discontinued the mix after that.
I think they stopped the mix, beacuse there are 2 numbers for wolves and bears on the 2021 map of Dierenrijk (wolves are shown as #36, while bears are shown as #38 on the map).
This May be of help, and mentions a very complex exhibit mixing black bears, bison, wolves, elk, white tailed deer, prairie dog and other ungulates in a Canadian zoo https://zoolex.org/media/uploads/2021/05/02/2020_svabik_mixed_bears.pdf
Will this very beautiful and natural looking enclosure be retained when in a few years the Bristol Zoo moves (sadly) to Wildplace?
and when I was there, a few years ago, the wolves were in a separate area. I think that they would eat most of the deer, even in such a large enclosure that was, if I recall it well, 480 hectares!
I was always curious about how well a mixed exhibit of American black bear and red wolf would work out. It would be purely theoretically, because I'm sure whoever answer the email at FWS requesting permission to try such an exhibit combo would probably have an aneurysm at the thought of risking it, but given the number of brown bear/gray wolf combos that have been tried, I wonder if it would work. I've kept both species (in separate enclosures) in the past and can imagine them working out... but as precious as red wolf pups are, I'd also hate to be the one responsible for a litter being lost to a bear (even if it just spooked the parent wolves into abandoning the den).
Woburn Safari Park have American black bear and grey wolves in a large drive through enclosure. In my experience the bear has stayed far away from the road and the wolves.
My answer: don't do it. I see absolutely no benefits with keeping animals together that would fight/kill each other in the wild. All you do is risk animals being mauled by each other, as well as more fuel that the anti-zoo lunatics can use for their agenda. As someone mentioned earlier, here is the Dierenrijk incident: Bears kill female wolf in shared enclosure in Dutch zoo | Daily Mail Online
