After 26 months of construction and a $15.5-million donation from the Government of Alberta, Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo opened its newly renovated Wild Canada habitat Friday. Caribou, river otters, grey wolves, owls and several other species — 17 in total, including mammals, birds and reptiles — inhabit the newly renovated terrain across seven ecological zones, six redeveloped habitats and one new habitat.There are also three new pools for the polar bears to enjoy. .The zoo, an “internationally accredited zoological and conservation non-profit organization,” sees more than 1.3 million visitors a year, according to a news release. Wild Canada, which has been part of the zoo since the ‘80s, is a stretch of habitats featuring animals native to Alberta and Canada. It has undergone several improvements since then and is now situated on 21 acres and represents “the zoo’s focus on species biodiversity, conservation and sustainability.”Its most prominent habitats are the Taylor Family Foundation Polar Bear Sanctuary and the Brawn Family Foundation River Lodge for North American River Otters. . The institute's latest polar bear inhabitants, six-year-old Baffin and seven-year-old Siku, are already enjoying their new, expansive habitat. The polar bears were brought in by air from Winnipeg after they were "found wandering alone outside of central Manitoba," said animal care manager of Wild Canada Patrick Thompson.The Calgary Zoo has not had “permanently housed” polar bears since 1999, when 24-year-old Misty was put down after being treated by Prozac “to treat her constant pacing.” Zoo officials said she was medicated because of “arthritis and other age-related injuries.".Thompson said the size of the polar bear habitat was an important factor while designing the polar bear’s new home, but the “complexity of the space” was equally important. “We tried to make it as interactive and interesting for the polar bears as you could,” Thompson said. “There's lots of natural trees, lots of changes in elevation, we've got three different pools.”“Polar bears are water creatures, they can play all sorts of things,” he continued. “So it's just a big complex space that the bears really seem to enjoy.”He added that polar bears are solitary animals, but they also engage in social activity, so designers took both aspects of the bears’ behaviour into consideration. “We wanted to make sure that when we designed this habitat that we gave them lots of space where they can go lots of places,” he said. “If they want to get away from each other, they can, if they want to be out of sight from each other, they can and then there's lots of things for them to do throughout the day.”“If they want to wrestle like they were this afternoon, they can go into the big middle part of the yard and they can spar. They want to come for a swim, they have choices as to where they want to swim. They want to go interact with something, dig somewhere, they absolutely can.”“So it just helps keep them stimulated.”
