Say goodbye to Patches.
The Erie Zoo's female polar bear will be relocated, most likely permanently, to the North Carolina Zoo sometime this month, Executive Director Scott Mitchell said Thursday.
The zoo's planned $1 million renovation of two moated exhibits, including the one Patches is in, is driving the decision, Mitchell said. The zoo was concerned that the noise and disruption caused by the construction project would be too stressful for her.
Patches most likely will remain in Asheboro, N.C., ending the Erie Zoo's long-standing connection to the marquee species at least for the foreseeable future, Mitchell said. The zoo has no immediate plans to acquire another polar bear.
"She's almost 26 and ... she's going to be down there at least a year and then she's 27," he said. "By that point it would make more sense for her to stay there. They have a big bear exhibit with no bears so it makes sense in that regard as well."
Patches' moving date has not been set, but this weekend is the last that the zoo can guarantee visitors will be able to see her, Mitchell said.
Visitors and staff members alike will miss her, he said.
"It's a family member moving away," Mitchell said.
The zoo is in the final design phase of the construction project, which includes Patches' exhibit and its lion exhibit. Plans include renovating holding spaces and sculpting the concrete walls; filling the moats that separate the outdoor open-air spaces from the outer exhibit rail, and installing glass partitions.
"It'll be somewhat similar to the tiger (exhibit)," Mitchell said. "There will be glass so people can get nose to nose with things. ... It's larger, it's a better fit all around for the animals."
Netting at the top of the exhibits will allow the zoo to house a wide variety of large cats in the exhibits, including the Amur leopards and possibly a new species, the Canadian lynx, Mitchell said.
Still, Mitchell said he's concerned about losing one of the zoo's popular attractions.
"They're an iconic species here at the zoo," Mitchell said of polar bears. "They have been a part of the community and the fabric and our family forever, as far as anybody can remember. But there's a lot of things at play in this and one is the difficulty in acquiring bears."
Few polar bears are being born at zoos, Mitchell said. Cost and space requirements of a new exhibit are also considerations.
The combined space of the current adjacent lion and polar bear exhibits would not be enough to house polar bears under current requirements, Mitchell said.
"Every kid can identify with a polar bear and bears in general. It's not easy to replace a polar bear in any way, shape or form. It's even more difficult because they've been with us back to the 'Koehler polars,'" Mitchell said, referring to the first pair of polar bears to live at the zoo. The pair was sponsored by the Koehler Brewery.
"I think the community understands what we're doing is best for the polar bear and polar bears in general, and that has to be our first priority," he said.
ERICA ERWIN can be reached at 870-1846 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNerwin.