Safeguarding a bear enclosure at the Zoo
To ensure the safety of animals, as well as visitors and caretakers, and to prevent breakouts, Amersfoort Zoo chose to partner with Unique Safety Products in safeguarding the new spectacled bear enclosure.
The right solution for safeguarding this animal enclosure is using the Fortress Interlocks mGard Trapped Key System. The mGard Trapped Key System works by releasing and locking uniquely coded keys in a predetermined sequence.
mGard Trapped Key System
Mechanical Interlocks
How does this Trapped Key System work?
The spectacled bear enclosure in Amersfoort Zoo consists of an outdoor enclosure, a separation area and two indoor enclosures, separated by hatches. Each area is accessible to the caretakers by a door. Due to the Trapped Key System, two doors and hatches adjacent to the same room can never be opened at the same time.
The doors and hatches are fitted with mechanical locks. To open a door, the keys are required from the locks of the shutters adjacent to the same room as the door. A key can only be released from the lock of a hatch when this hatch is closed. This hatch cannot be opened until the key is inserted back into the lock.
Opening door B
To open door B, the keys from the green, white and blue hatch must be entered. These hatches must first be closed to release the keys.
Opening door C
To open door C, the keys must be inserted from the green, white and orange hatch. These hatches must first be closed to release the keys.
How to open door A
Imagine you are standing in front of door A and want to enter the separation area. You don’t want someone else to open the hatch to the separation room when you are in it. Then the spectacled bears can get to you, making the situation unsafe.
To open door A safely, you need the keys from hatches red, orange and blue. These hatches must be closed to release the keys from these locks. All these keys must then be inserted into the switch on door A to open the door.
As long as door A is open, the keys are trapped in the lock on the door. So the locks on the hatches are now missing keys and therefore cannot be opened. This system, therefore, ensures that either the door can be opened or the hatches. They can never be opened at the same time.
Using a safety key
The lock on the door, in this case door A, is also fitted with a personal safety key. The caregiver takes this yellow key inside. As long as this key is not inserted in the lock on the door, the door cannot be closed and the caregiver does not get locked in the separation room.
How to open door B,C,D & E
This same situation is found at doors B and C. Door B only opens when the keys from the blue, white and green hatch are inserted. Door C only opens when the keys from the green, white and orange hatch are inserted. Doors D and E both open when the key from the red hatch is inserted into their lock.
