The Cleveland Metroparks opened it’s new 18,600 square-foot tropical bear habitat: ‘Susie’s Bear Hollow Habitat’, three times the size of the original bear habitat which was built in 1969. Susie’s Hollow will feature new climbing structures, elevated resting areas, and dig pits- to provide opportunities for the bears to act as they would in the wild. Andean and Sloth bears are listed as vulnerable species and will habitat in Susie’s Hollow’. Enhancements behind the scenes include new holding dens and maternity spaces to help breeding efforts. The $7.7 million dollar project is supported by $3.5 from the Cleveland Zoological Society including a leadership gift from a long-time donor.

The fabricator worked closely with the galvanizer to meet the scheduling demands of the project, which also needed to be painted prior to installation. Susie’s Habitat will stand the test of time thanks to the protection of hot-dip galvanizing and paint. Above and beyond care was taken to clean the and paint the steel in order to prevent any future dangers to the bears.

The duplex system was selected due to the aesthetics, coating durability and corrosion performance, and not to forget the duplex system will help protect the steel in dealing with the harsh weather conditions off Lake Erie.