From 2024–2025, a major goal for your Toronto Zoo was to improve and enable the grass-habitat pool to operate year-round. Historically, this pool had to be drained each winter due to design limitations, preventing the bears from engaging in key seasonal behaviours.

This project took months of coordinated planning, water-testing, and close observation of bear behaviour. The Life Support System (LSS) team replaced the entire life-support system, installing new pumps, a large heater, UV sterilization, upgraded filtration, and improved HVAC to prevent freeze-ups. Working with Wildlife Care, they created a setup that keeps river outflow running while still allowing natural ice to form on the pool, achieving the balance needed for both animal well-being and mechanical safety.

This collaboration improved the Polar bears’ winter environment and highlighted the value of long-term infrastructure investment, especially in a year when the main pool was offline for its own LSS replacement. It shows how coordinated work between Wildlife Care, LSS, Maintenance, and Utilities directly supports animal well-being and natural, species-appropriate behaviour.

The project’s success was evident as the bears used the icy pool exactly as intended - breaking through ice, engaging in cooperative play, and practicing still-hunting behaviours. Even our geriatric bears, Aurora and Nikita, participated actively. At times, one bear created a seal-style breathing hole while another “still-hunted” from the ice above, underscoring the importance of arctic sea ice to polar bears and the potential impacts of climate change on this keystone species.