St. Louis Zoo grizzly bear exhibit to open in September

ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis Zoo officials say a new $11-million grizzly bear exhibit is expected to open in September.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (https://bit.ly/2nmFSsu ) reports two young grizzlies housed at a Montana zoo will be brought to the new Grizzly Ridge exhibit in St. Louis this summer and acclimate there with the windows covered before they are unveiled.

The bears - a male named Huckleberry and a female named Finley - each are younger than 2 years old and were orphaned in Montana last year when state wildlife officials there killed their mother.

The St. Louis zoo hasn’t had grizzly bears since March 2015, when 25-year-old male grizzly Bert died after residing at the zoo since 1991.

There are about 1,500 grizzly bears in the wild in the continental United States.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, https://www.stltoday.com