As you know, work is being done to upgrade The Cub House, which was built in 2014. The curators learned a lot from that structure that was planned and executed to have a place for cubs who have outgrown the Cub Nursery but are too small to be out in a Wild Enclosure. They drew on the lessons learned when building Hartley House a few years later. Now, during the temporary lull in between the 2021 bears and those to come in 2022, they have been working to upgrade the original structure and bring it up to speed. Let’s take a look.
The Cub House under construction in 2014.Resourceful cubs! Shelby Bear (2015) climbed up to a space at the top of the wall, then down into next room.She visited Tucker Bear, who wasn’t too happy to see her at that moment, though they became buddies eventually.Acorn Bear liked to climb up and rest at the top of the wall.Rufus Bear did the same thing.Wood paneling, installed by curators, sealed the gaps.However, rodent damage was discovered.Removal of the panel revealed a big food cache!Panels were removed to remedy that problem.Little bears like to climb. Plastic sheeting was installed to keep them from climbing the walls and possibly getting hurt.The curators constructed climbing structures. The shelves were deemed unsafe, after the triplets jumped off the top too many times.The best solution seems to be portable climbing structures like this one that Otto was using here. This is the style that will be replicated in the updated Cub House.
We hope that you enjoyed this trip back in time to see the development of The Cub House. Keep watching to see how the updated version proceeds.
