South Dakota zoo takes in 2 troublesome black bears

SIOUX FALLS , S.D. — Two black bears who were causing trouble in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming now call the Sioux Falls zoo home.

A 12-year-old female bear with a long history of nuisance behavior and her young cub arrived at Great Plains Zoo after being removed by park biologists. Following routine protocol for all new animals, the bears will spend 30 days in quarantine before going on exhibit.

The two bears will join the zoo’s 16-year-old black bear, Charles, in an exhibit that features a firehose hammock and a multilevel platform that provides enrichment to the bears.

“The Great Plains Zoo is proud that we were able to work quickly to provide these nuisance bears a new lease on life,” said Elizabeth Whealy, president and CEO of the Great Plains Zoo.

The mother bear had raided backpacks and campsites for food over the last several years, a press release said. The relocation to the zoo was an alternative to euthanization.

The black bear exhibit is next to the zoo’s Bear Canyon brown bear exhibit. The zoo recently announced plans for a $2 million renovation of the brown bear habitat.