TOLEDO, Ohio — One of three Kodiak bears whose mother was killed by hunters has been relocated from Alaska to an Ohio zoo.
The male cub, named Dodge, arrived last fall at the Toledo Zoo, The Blade newspaper reported. He has since bonded with two female grizzly cubs that were moved from Yellowstone National Park after their mother killed a hiker and was euthanized.
"You try to have everything be positive. You give them the space and availability to get out of sight if they want to, and you don't force anything on them. ... They eventually get curious," said Dr. Randi Meyerson, the Toledo Zoo's assistant director of animal programs.
The cubs are now getting along well after they were first brought together about a month ago.
Nathan Svoboda, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said this is only the second time that Kodiak bear cubs have been relocated in about 35 years.
"This was somewhat of a unique circumstance in that we had a couple of zoos looking for cubs and were able to place them," Svoboda said.
The Toledo Zoo expects the cubs will go on public exhibit this summer.
The zoo said hunters without a guide killed Dodge's mother last spring. It's illegal to kill female bears with cubs in Alaska. A second, guided group of hunters later searched for and found the cubs.
The cubs initially were hand-reared at the Alaska Zoo. Dodge's siblings went to a zoo in Marshfield, Wisconsin.