Detroit Zoo to construct modern lion habitat
By Catherine Kavanaugh
Daily Tribune Staff Writer
ROYAL OAK – Construction began last week on a $1 million habitat for the kings of the jungle residing at the Detroit Zoo.
Crews are using a drilling rig to bore into the ground where concrete will be poured for the foundation of 30 8–foot tall laminated glass panels that will let visitors see eye-to-eye with the six lions.
The zoo is asking its neighbors in Royal Oak and Huntington Woods to pardon any noise during construction, which is expected to last through the end of June.
“Initially, homeowners may not notice much at all,” said Patricia Janeway, zoo spokeswoman. “The construction noise will be minimal, similar to a garbage truck or snow plow at most.”
However, it will get louder when demolition of the moat walls begins in a couple weeks.
“There will be more noise at times from large jack hammers,” Janeway said. “After this work is completed in mid to late March, noise should again be modest.”
The lion’s 3,500-square foot habitat was one of the first animal exhibits featured when the Detroit Zoo opened in 1928.
“It’s due for an update,” Janeway said.
The lion habitat was ground breaking 83 years ago because it used moats instead of bars to give visitors an unobstructed view. However, the trend today is toward intimacy and security. The moat will be replaced with 2 1⁄4-inch thick, tempered glass barriers. Inside the new habitat, warming rocks will be placed near the glass to give lions a toasty perch to people watch.
The zoo had three lions until 2009, when the Detroit Zoological Society rescued three lions from a Kansas junk yard and doubled its population. The renovated habitat will double outdoor space for the lions. The glass panels will give visitors a closer look from a viewing area that will be landscaped just like the habitat.
“Landscaping in the habitat will mirror that in the viewing plaza, making the experience more immersive,” Janeway said.
Security has never been an issue at the Detroit Zoo. However, in 2007, the San Francisco Zoo had to upgrade its tiger habitat after a Siberian tiger escaped from a moat-system enclosure that didn’t meet guidelines of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The tiger killed one man and injured two others.
During the renovation at the Detroit Zoo, the lions still have access to the yard. They won’t need to be relocated. However, the lions will be off exhibit for several weeks and stay inside a building when their existing moat is filled in and the 4-foot wide glass panels are installed. The laminated glass consists of four layers of half-inch tempered glass.
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