The Potawatomi Zoo broke ground on its newest capital project, Big Cat Tracks, on Thursday, August 14, at 8:30 am. Big Cat Tracks is predominately a state-of-the-art Amur tiger and leopard habitat. It is located in the southeast corner of the Zoo on two acres of land acquired from the City of South Bend, the Zoo’s first physical expansion in recent history.
Local government officials, donors, staff, and friends of the Zoo attended the groundbreaking. Speakers included Margie Anella, director of development, Josh Sisk, executive director of the Potawatomi Zoo, James Mueller, mayor of the city of South Bend, and Mark Neal, president of the Board of Park Commissioners.
“It’s tremendous to see what a destination this Zoo has become, and [it] is continuing to elevate itself into becoming a premier regional [destination] and beyond,” said Mueller. “We’re excited about what’s to come.”
As part of its master plan, the Zoo has been eager to develop modern, naturalistic habitats for Amur leopards and tigers. The new habitats will include features designed specifically for each species’ needs. For instance, the Amur tiger habitat will have a water feature, and the leopard habitat will include climbing structures. The Big Cat Tracks project will also bring other Eurasian species to the Zoo, such as Sika deer, tufted deer, and white-naped cranes, to create an immersive experience. There will also be amenities for visitors, including concessions, new bathrooms and a playground area.
“What’s really special to us here at the Zoo is what it’s doing for conservation,” said Sisk. “Our kids’ generation, if we don’t sustain these populations, could actually see these species go extinct…This new state-of-the-art facility is going to let us breed both of these animals so we can continue to sustain these species, educate our visitors, try to build empathy for wildlife, and foster future conservationists in our kids so they’ll one day want to save these species.”
Funds for this $5.5 million capital project have been raised from private and public sources, including individual donors, organizations, and foundations.
“To date, we have raised $3.4 million in pledges and private donations from 145 individual donors and foundations,” says Anella. “[These] gifts are a testament to a shared vision for what’s possible when a community believes that we deserve the best.”
For more details on the Big Cat Tracks project and naming opportunities, visit www.expandingourprints.org.
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Amur leopards are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There are fewer than 100 Amur leopards in the wild and only about 100 in zoos. Originally native to an extensive territory encompassing the Primorye region of southeastern Russia, northern China around the Amur River, as well as the Korean peninsula, they now live only in a small part of the Russian Far East. Loss of habitat and prey, poaching, and fragmentation of the population have led to a significant decline in the number of wild Amur leopards.
Amur leopards are solitary by nature. Unlike African leopards, Amur leopards are adapted to temperate forests, cold climates, and mountainous areas. They have thicker, longer fur than other leopards and longer legs. They’re skilled at climbing and swimming and can jump as high as 20 feet. In the wild, they prefer to hunt at night.
Amur tigers are considered endangered by the IUCN, although they were critically endangered until the 1990s, when strong conservation efforts began in Russia and China. There are an estimated 400 Amur tigers in the wild. Threats to the Amur tiger include loss of habitat and natural prey, population fragmentation (which leads to low genetic diversity) and poaching.
The Amur tiger’s native range includes the Amur River basin in northeast China and the Russian Far East. They prefer grasslands, pine forests and hardwood forests in cooler temperature ranges than other tigers, and they thrive in the snow. Like all tigers, they love water and are good swimmers.
