A local fencing business recently finished a project of mammoth proportions when it built 9,000 feet of fencing for the Toyota Elephant Passage at the Denver Zoo.

Champion Fence, located at 5800 W. 60th Ave., is an Arvada family business established in 1996 that specializes in commercial fencing. The company recently completed nearly 7,000 feet of customized fencing and gates for the new exhibit that houses elephants and other Asian and African animals. Champion employees built 12 types of fences and barriers for the 10-acre addition, each tailored for the kind of enclosure required.

To keep the area safe and protected while they were working, Champion employees put up2,000 feet of temporary fencing.

“That’s what separates us from a lot of other companies,” said Brian Teel, owner of Champion. “You go out there, and they want this fence, but it’s not a chain-link fence, it’s not a picket fence, it’s a fence with crooked posts and bent panels.”

“Lately what we’ve been getting is a lot of customized stuff,” said Brian’s son Kevin Teel, manager of the zoo project. “A lot of stuff that is general that anybody can do, everybody seems to be able to bid on that; the stuff that’s customized is the stuff we seem to have a niche for right now.”

The project took about three years to complete and is, to date, the largest project Champion has undertaken.

“I think, by far, the zoo is our proudest work, especially because of the exposure,” said Eileen Teel, co-owner of Champion.

Champion did more than just build the fences. The father-and-son team provided input on the design of the fences.

“We had enough expertise to help them formulate their final decision on what it was going to look like,” Brian Teel said. “It’s kind of nice being part of the team. Instead of saying `Build it like this,’ they’ll say `What do you think about this? How do we connect that?’ and we’ll come back with our two cents. Then somebody else, a keeper, says `That’s not going to work because I’ll only have one hand.’ We make a plan. That’s what’s kind of neat about the Denver Zoo.”

Teel said the company was hesitant to make an initial bid because the project was twice the size of any they had ever done, but now that it is done, they are proud of the results.

“I think it gave us a lot of notoriety,” he said. “A lot of people are going to be looking at that zoo and the work that is done, and I hope it will bring us a lot of business.”

Looking at the new exhibit and its fencing will take some planning, at least for a while. To regulate traffic within the exhibit for the time being, guests must sign up for a time slot. To make a reservation, go online to www.denverzoo.org.