The Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls has two new black bears. After repeatedly raiding camp sites at the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, park officials decided it was time the bears find a new home.
President of the Great Plain Zoo Elizabeth Whealy says the zoo acted fast to bring two troublemaker bears to Sioux Falls. The bear and her cub had been reported 17 times in the past three years snooping around picnic areas and campsites looking for food. Whealy says park officials were eager to relocate the bears.
“But in this case, these bears were nuisance bears. They were nuisance to other humans and they were a nuisance ultimately to themselves because their bad behavior got them into trouble,” says Whealy.
Whealy says in a month the bears will join the zoo’s only black bear on display.
“We will have three black bears on exhibit and we also have our brown bear exhibit were Kenai the brown bear lives on her own until we renovate that exhibit and bring in more friends for her in the next couple of years,” says Whealy.
The zoo is spending $2 million dollars on renovating the bear habitat. The mother black bear is about 12 years old and her cub was born this spring.