ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Zoo officials say a new $11-million grizzly bear exhibit is expected to open in September.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch 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.