Arctic exhibit on thin ice at zoo

CORRECTION — Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article stated that Ken Reininger said global climate change has continued to make survival harder for polar bears at the South Pole. He actually said polar bears live at the North Pole. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

With a babbling creek, an alpine meadow and arctic flora, the North Carolina Zoological Park’s refurbished polar bear exhibit is only missing one thing: polar bears.

The zoo, located in Asheboro, is planning to unveil the $8.5 million project in spring 2014 — but the lack of polar bears currently at the zoo and a decreasing wild population could pose obstacles for zoo curators.

Ken Reininger, general curator of animal collections at the zoo, said the exhibit may be home to another species for the near future.

“There’s just not a lot of (polar bears) there, either in the wild or in captivity,” Reininger said.

After the unexpected death of Aquila, one of the zoo’s polar bears, earlier this month, the zoo has only one left. But that bear, 29-year-old Wilhelm, is staying at a zoo in Milwaukee and may be too elderly to return to the exhibit.

And Reininger said global climate change has continued to make survival harder for polar bears at the North Pole. In 2008, polar bears made their debut on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Threatened Species list.

“Our mission is to draw attention to people the plight of many species in the wild and what humans can do to try to address that situation, and we feel one of the most effective ways of doing that is to create a kind of empathy or bond that comes from seeing how majestic these animals are in person,” Reininger said.

There are two ways the zoo could obtain more polar bears, he said — exchanging with other zoos for a bear or cub that has been in captivity or bringing in a rescued orphan cub from the wild.

But he said both options are unlikely for now, because in the past four years, only two orphans have been rescued from the wild, and there are about 65 captive polar bears in the U.S.

UNC freshman Ali Huber said the polar bear exhibit was always her favorite when she visited the zoo as a child. She said she hopes the new exhibit will put an emphasis on teaching visitors about the situation facing polar bears.

“It was always the highlight of my trip,” Huber said. “You kind of fall in love with the animal you’re seeing. Hopefully, it will make kids want to protect them.”

Although North Carolina’s climate is far from arctic, George Durner, an Alaskan zoologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who specializes in polar bears, said zoos everywhere can create favorable habitats for the bears.

“It’s very helpful for an educational purpose for people to develop an understanding of polar bears in their environment,” Durner said.

Though Reininger said the polar bears have traditionally been the zoo’s most popular exhibit, he doesn’t expect to see a noticeable drop in visitors without them.

He said he hopes the expansion will make the zoo more competitive among nationally accredited zoos if bears become available.

“They are very inquisitive and intelligent animals … so we wanted to create a larger, more complex space so that our polar bears would have a more enriched life day to day.”

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