Catch Cats Closer Than Ever

This summer, the tigers at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will no longer be far away animals cordoned off in a pit. The big cats, 15-year-old Dasha and 13-year-old Klechka, are closer to zoo visitors than ever before in the new Rosebrough Tiger Passage exhibit opening June 3: crawling in tunnels above, lounging on upfront rocks, dipping into nearby pools of water. “It is being able to see cats from underneath on the ground, seeing the cats overhead and watching them climb and jump in a different way,” says executive director Chris Kuhar. “In our old exhibit, you were probably no closer than 25 or 30 feet to a cat, so you don’t really get a feel to how big and how powerful they are.” That’s no longer the case. “You are going to be able to see them nose-to-nose through a glass-viewing window, you can hear them and smell them. It will be a much more exciting visitor experience.” 3900 Wildlife Way, Cleveland, 216-661-6500, clevelandmetroparks.com/zoo