June is Celebrate a Bear month at the Zoo and Grizzlies get center stage the weekend of June 14. The day will include conversations with Grizzly keepers and a special information station about Grizzly Bears. The musical group Glendon will perform at 2 p.m. in the North America Plaza, too.
Zoo visitors will be able to meet bear keepers at 10:30 a.m. and at 1:30 p.m. at the Grizzly Bear exhibit. All through the day, a zoo volunteer will staff an information station at the exhibit. Visitors can gather at the station to ask questions, touch some bear hair and explore details about bear behavior. The Zoo's kidZone playground will honor the bear theme, too, with special bruin-based games.
Grizzly Bear BiosBoth of the Zoo's Grizzly Bears are former natives of Montana. They were wild residents of Glacier National Park, where they both built reputations as nuisance bears—bears that lack a normal fear of humans. Nuisance bears earn their reputation by turning up in places where people congregate and putting the people in danger.
Wildlife officials try to blunt the danger posed by nuisance bears by transporting them to remote locations. If the bears return to the scene of their former crimes, wildlife officials will try a second relocation. But, if a bear comes back again, it is often euthanized.
The Zoo's two bears were both three-time losers who got lucky. The Zoo had space to take them in and both bears have adjusted beautifully to their North Carolina home.
June 21-22 will continue the month's bear theme by focusing on Black Bears and the month will end with a Teddy Bear Fair, where zoo visitors can bring their teddy bears for a check up visit with a Zoo veterinarian.
Visitors can get more information on each June weekend activity at the zoo Web site:
http://www.nczoo.org/.
