ELY- At the North American Bear Center, the old bear enclosures with their wooden shelters have lasted many years; however, with wear and bear, it was obvious they wouldn’t last fur-ever. Director Scott Edgett was happy to be the bear-er of good news last week when he showed off one of the center’s new enclosures to the Timberjay last week.
The bear center is installing five new enclosures to replace the old ones made of chain link fence. “All the new enclosures will be finished in the next three weeks, weather permitting,” Edgett explained. “Everything but the fencing and all the labor is locally-sourced.”
Each new enclosure will feature a natural rock-roofed den, webcams installed by Custom Theaters of Ely, and new fencing installed by local contractors. The fencing goes down four feet into the ground. The natural dens are designed to give the ursine residents of the center a place to shelter during bad weather and to hibernate during the winter. When complete, the entire project will cost the nonprofit bear center over $150,000.
The fencing, all 650 feet of it, is a specialty product made specifically for zoos. “It’s visitor, bear, and camera-friendly,” said Edgett. It wasn’t possible for the center to find zoo fencing locally — or even in the United States, since it is produced in only two countries, both on the other side of the globe.
The bear center ordered its zoo fencing from the United Kingdom. Edgett outlined the convoluted travels of the new fencing this spring from the UK to Minnesota, given the continuing snarls and harbor jams at North American ports.
“The fencing arrived in Quebec where it was shipping by rail,” said Edgett, “first by Canadian Northern and then by BNSF. Then it was reloaded and trucked to Minnesota from (upstate) New York.”
The North American Bear Center has been an Ely fixture since 2007. It is currently the home of three black bears, Lucky, Holly, and Tasha. Depending on the year, the center, which is open to the public from May until late October, hosts between 26,000 and 30,000 visitors annually.