Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette A polar bear checks out his home at new outdoor exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.

By Linda Wilson Fuoco and Anita Srikameswaran,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Splashing around in a pool of 50-degree water, the two polar bears at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium explored their outdoor exhibit space for the first time last week, entertaining visitors and keepers with their playfulness.

The zoo's president, Barbara Baker, played patty-cake with one of the 600-pound charmers through the glass of one of two large windows.

"It was so much fun," she said. "The public views are awesome. The animal interaction is awesome. The bears are having a blast. So it can't get any better than this."

	Click image to a slideshow about the zoo's new exhibit and its large and furry stars.

Not so, say some animal activists: Why not leave the bears in their natural habitat instead of confining them to a relatively small area in captivity?

Polar bears, after all, are not an endangered species. There are an estimated 22,000 to 27,000 of them in the Arctic regions of five countries, including Alaska in the United States.

But that could change, warn scientists, who say the largest land predator in the world could be extinct in 50 to 100 years because the ice where they hunt is shrinking.

"Polar bears could be the poster child for global warming," said Brandy Smith, director of conservation and science for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. "The future of polar bears is uncertain."

The Pittsburgh zoo's outdoor exhibit, the first in the new Water's Edge area, opens Wednesday.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Josh Bennett, 6, of Weirton, W.Va., gets a close view of one of the two polar bears at the new exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. Click photo for larger image.

"What I think is so cool about it is [the visitors] feel like they're right there," Dr. Baker said. "It's not one of these exhibits where you're looking way across at the bears. The bears are right there."

Staffers traveled to zoos around the country to get ideas for the exhibit, so the result is unique because it captures all the best features, said Amos Morris, curator of mammals.

The bears have a waterfall and freshwater stream that double as a source of drinking water. The 150,000-gallon pool, chilled to 50 to 55 degrees, eventually will contain salt water. A dig yard filled with river rock gives them a place to play or nap.

For the polar bears, "The colder, the better," Mr. Morris said. They have an air-conditioned cave they can be comfortable in during warm weather.

The brothers, who were born at the Denver Zoo and arrived in Pittsburgh in June, will be 2 years old Friday. They will weigh between 1,100 and 1,300 pounds when they're fully grown, twice their current weight.

One is adventurous and loves toys, while the other is subdued and puts food first, Mr. Morris said. A contest is under way to rename them. They now are known as Koda and Nuka.

The youngsters are likely to identify any problems in the exhibit before more valuable breeding females use it, Dr. Baker said.

"They'll go in every nook and cranny," she said. "If there's a piece of caulking that's loose, they'll pull it out. They'll find all that kind of stuff."

The zoo has room for five polar bears and could start a breeding program in a few years. A new building has six indoor holding areas and a large outdoor holding area out of public view.

To see the bears, visitors walk along a path embedded with bear, sea otter and other prints through Pier Town, which has the facades of a cannery, a bait and tackle shop, and a sustainable seafood market.

A tunnel that will allow visitors to see the bears swimming above them will open in the spring. Sea otters will arrive early next year, and walruses in April, to complete the Water's Edge exhibit.

Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette One of the two polar bears checks out his home at the exhibit. Click photo for larger image.

Including the two in Pittsburgh, there are 100 polar bears in North American zoos. They are breeding in captivity, and the AZA Species Survival Plan has set a goal of 110.

Zoos that meet stringent AZA standards, including Pittsburgh, strive to provide exhibits that keep animals healthy, happy and breeding. Such efforts include duplicating natural habitats to the greatest extent possible. The efforts are not cheap. The Water's Edge exhibit cost $12.5 million.

Zoo opponents say that's not good enough, pointing out that wild polar bears range over vast areas of ice, land and sea. Polar bears in Alaska's Beaufort Sea, tracked for 20 years, travel 2,121 to 3,852 miles a year.

"Wild animals do not travel great distances for exercise or for fun," counters Ms. Smith, of the AZA. "Wild animals are traveling to search for food."

One of the leading zoo opponents is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is against keeping and breeding any animals in zoos. The well-funded organization has stepped up its anti-zoo campaign in recent months, giving special emphasis to getting elephants out of zoos. Bears and big cats are next on their list.

PETA's fact sheet, "Zoos: Pitiful Prisons," says in part: "Ultimately, we will only save endangered species by preserving their habitats and combating the reasons why they are killed by people. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups" that work to save the natural habitat of wild animals.

Existing zoo animals should go to "nonprofit sanctuaries" where animals are neither bred nor sold, PETA suggests.

Other conservation groups work to preserve the great white bears in the wild and in zoos.

"We view zoos as having a very critical role," said Robert Buchanan, president of Polar Bear International in the United States and Canada, whose mission is "conservation through research and education.''

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette One of the two new polar bears floats under water above people in an observation tunnel. Click photo for larger image.

Polar Bears International funds research projects in the wild, including aerial surveys to count the bears. Studies of wild bears help zoo keepers determine what captive bears need. Scientists can conduct studies in zoos that can't be done in the wild, Mr. Buchanan said.

Polar Bears International's research efforts include underwriting a $46,000 study aimed at making life better for polar bears that live in zoos.

"Polar bears typically experience more problems with confinement than most other animals," says the organization's Web site. "Captive polar bears are well known for exhibiting repetitive behavior such as pacing back and forth, particularly when housed in substandard, sensory-deprived exhibits."

AZA already requires zoos to provide "enrichment" for all zoo animals to prevent that kind of behavior. For Koda and Nuka, that includes putting toys into their swimming area.

During the media preview of the exhibit Thursday, both bears repeatedly swam up to observation windows to make nose-to-nose contact with employees and zoo staff. State-of-the-art exhibits that give bears a view of the world are in contrast to old-style bear exhibits, which were frequently below ground level, limiting what bears could see.

Koda and Nuka have been trained to present their paws and open their mouths on command, enabling keepers to check for injuries. They also are learning to play games.

The Denver Zoo is one of the zoos participating in the study to improve polar bears' lives. The study's results will be made available to all zoos.

Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette One of the two polar bears at the Pittsburgh Zoo checks out the zoo staff as they take pictures through an observation window at the exhibit.