Assiniboine Park Zoo (CHRISD.CA FILE)
Repairs have been made on the new $90 million Journey to Churchill exhibit less than a week after opening.
Officials with Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Zoo say some “minor modifications” were made over the past 48 hours, including with the waterfall in the Churchill Coast portion of the exhibit, which had sprung a small leak.
The exhibit opened to the public on July 3.
“These kinds of adjustments are absolutely normal with the opening of any new exhibit, especially one this complex,” said Don Peterkin, chief operations officer with the Assiniboine Park Conservancy (APC). “We had a couple of minor issues present themselves during the first few days after opening that needed to be addressed and we’ll likely see other areas that need attention as we move forward and are able to observe the exhibit day to day.”
The zoo also had to fix a barrier that separates wolves from polar bears within one of the exhibits. It required reinforcement after the wolves dug underneath into the polar bear space overnight.
The wolves and two of the zoo’s four polar bears had to be removed from the exhibit for two days while the repairs were completed, disappointing some visitors who came to the zoo specifically to see them.
All animals have since been returned to the exhibit and Journey to Churchill is operating in full capacity for zoo visitors. The repairs are reported to have cost a few thousand dollars.
