Lake Superior Zoo Preparing For New Exhibits To Open This Fall

Two orphaned Alaskan brown bear cubs and two orphaned cougar cubs have arrived at the Lake Superior Zoo, and are currently in quarantine. According to The Duluth News Tribune construction started Wednesday on three new habitats which are expected to be open in late October or November.

This two phase project will cost around $4 million dollars when it is completed, Lake Superior Zoo CEO Erik Simonson said "We are seeing some real progress now, we are putting some of the pieces back in place that have been absent for too long."

The 7 month old male brown bear cubs Tundra and Banks were left orphaned by a car accident that killed their mother. They have been at the Zoo since July and each weigh about 100 pounds, keepers at the zoo guess that they will get up to about 1,000 pounds when fully grown. Primary carnivore keeper Brittany Behler said "People are going to be able to grow up with these bears. They are going to see them go through their life stages. They are going to see their bratty teenage stage. They are going to see when they get to adults. So it's going to be really cool to have people connect with these bears."

The brother and sister cougar cubs came to the zoo in March each weighing around 30 pounds and both have doubled in size. The keepers at the zoo are making sure to give the young bears and cougars plenty of things to do to keep them stimulated, active and healthy.