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SALT LAKE CITY — Some unique animals have made their way to Utah's Hogle Zoo over the past few weeks, including a trio of grizzly bears and one blind and aptly named sea lion named Big Guy. But how on earth does one safely and humanely move such large animals from their homes thousands of miles away to Utah?
It's a very long and complicated process involving many different modes of transportation, especially for the unique animals of this beautiful new exhibit Rocky Shores.
At 4:55 a.m. at Salt Lake International Airport, a FedEX plane delivered three seals from LA. Moving live animals is a delicate process. A seal, Hudson, is almost 2 years old. He's scared, but his journey to the Hogle Zoo is almost over. Hudson, Mira and Nika were transferred from the plane to a van, then driven to the zoo. Once on site the staff unloaded them one by one and introduced them into their temporary home.
"They're doing well so far," said Pat Theobald, a Hogle Zoo animal keeper. "They're just happy to be back in the water after being in the crates overnight."
Next to arrive at the zoo were three young grizzly bears. Loulou, Dolly and Koda are 3-year-old siblings from the Buffalo Zoo in New York. They were driven across the country in 48 hours in a specialized trailer.
"People see what's in there and it dawns on me that this isn't just a standard horse trailer, which is what most people would look at it and think it is," said Jerrod Treangen, owner of Destination Run. "There are a lot of mornings you wake up at four in the morning because they're getting restless and the trailer is rocking back and forth a little bit."
After a long journey - LouLou, Dolly and Koda were anxious to get out of their crates. As zoo staff moved them into place, each bear let them know.
"I think they were trying to communicate with each other," said James Weinpress, another animal keeper. "They're siblings, so they're all pretty close and definitely during a transition like this they're going to find a lot of comfort with being with each other."
When it was time for the siblings to be reunited, the grizzlies quickly found each other.
"From what we know, Koda is a little bit bigger, but personality wise we've heard from his keeper that he's not in charge - his two sisters are in charge. So it will be fun to see their personalities develop," Weinpress said.
Next to arrive was Rizzo, a 14-year-old Polar Bear. She came on a DHL plane after an all-night fight from Cincinnati. KSL showed you Rizzo's arrival last week, and all the excitement at DHL that came with.
"We're not used to having a bear come through here, it was pretty exciting," said Phil Geldray, a DHL employee.
After a quick trip on I-15 in a horse trailer, Rizzo was unloaded at the zoo. She quickly settled into her temporary home.
"This is a tough journey for a bear, and she seems to have taken it all in stride," said Craig Dinsmore, director of the Hogle Zoo. "It suggests that she is a very seasoned zoo bear."
The last of the Rocky Shores animals arrived in Utah early Friday morning. The three sea lions flew in from California: Maverick and Rocky, the two smaller lions, and the aptly named Big Guy.
Big Guy weighed in at the airport at approximately 800 pounds. One of the reasons he had to fly FedEx is because he was too big to drive. Like his size, his story is unique.
He was found injured on a Southern California beach and rehabilitated at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito for two years. He's also blind.
"With a blind animal we can't tell him it's OK, you're going to some place that's going to be big and beautiful because he's not going to know that and so he had to trust us," Carpenter said.
Moving Big Buy into his temporary home at the zoo took a little convincing with some fishy treats. But once he found the water, he was happy.
"He seems to be acclimating already in the pool, finding the size of the pool, since he is not a sighted animal and I'm pretty sure he's happy to get out of the crate and get into some water and stretch those limbs a little bit," Carpenter said.
Big Guy will really get to stretch his limbs when he moves into Rocky Shores and its new state-of-the-art pool. The otters and seals are already enjoying the $18 million facility. In just a few more weeks all the other animals will too.
A lot of work went into getting these animals to Utah, but they're here and Rocky Shores will open to the public on June 1. By then Rizzo, Big Guy and all the other new animals will be familiar with their new home.
