“Mom, there’s a bear in the back of this truck!” Expect squeals of delight as young children get an unusual view of the bears at the new Bear Habitat and Town of Glacier Run at the Louisville Zoo in Louisville, Kentucky. This is not your average bear exhibit — momma bear, Inga, was tagged three times as a nuisance bear in Montana, and by law, was to be euthanized. But luckily, she and her cubs were offered a home at
the zoo.
Since the grizzlies and zoo-born polar bear Arki were familiar with human architecture, a habitat resembling a northern mining town — Glacier Run — was developed, with features including an old quarry, a fishery’s warehouse truck dock and a fragmented roadway destroyed by the glaciers.
Since its April 2011 opening, the 300-pound grizzly cubs, Otis and Rita, have been wowing the crowds. They enjoy playing in the climate-controlled area known as “the dock,” where they race and wrestle up and down the stairs and in and out of the old pickup truck. A clear, thick acrylic panel separates the inside truck bed where the cubs play from the cab. Visitors can slide onto the old-style bench seat to watch the bears in the back — very up-close and almost personal.
With cooler weather, expect more activity from the bears in their outside “glacier” area, as well as more polar bear sightings. Wide, clear, floor-to-ceiling windows allow visitors to watch the bears frolicking outside or underwater in the bear pool from inside comfortable climate-controlled rooms.