By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
As the warmer temperatures have arrived, the staff at the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo start focusing on projects.
Last week, crews started rebuilding the public fence around the alligators.
Zoo officials have most of the supplies
purchased and are now looking for time to begin an expansion of the cougar
exhibit. Zoo Curator Ashley Burdick said the expansion will make the exhibit
about three times larger than the current space for the two cougars.
"We did add in a platform for the cougar exhibit in 2020," said Burdick. "One of our cougars did a lot of pacing, and stereotypically that's not good. The platform helped that. Our other cougar is blind so he can't see that platform. We're hoping expanding the exhibit will help him feel more comfortable by giving him more hiding places."
Burdick said cougars can live to be 15-20 years old in captivity, and the two
Great Bend cougars are eight and nine years old.
Burdick hoped to also have the new playground equipment installed at the zoo by
the end of the year.