While reporters, photographers and TV news crews were shivering, two recent Manhattan transplants were blithely enjoying the arctic air during their first meeting with the media. Grizzly bears Betty and Veronica wandered around their new home in the Central Park Zoo. And, yes, Betty has a "blonder" head, while Veronica is much more brunette.
The grizzly bear exhibit was announced last year as the replacement for the old polar bear space, which was left empty after beloved Gus passed away in 2013. The Wildlife Conservation Society is excited to feature the bears because all of its nine bears—Betty and Veronica, plus seven others at the Bronx Zoo—are rescues, and the WCS does field work with the bears. Craig Piper, Director of City Zoos, said, "This exhibit will provide us an opportunity to help people better understand how to safely coexist with bears when visiting or living in bear country."
Veronica on the left, Betty on the right (Scott Heins / Gothamist)
Betty was rescued from Montana and Veronica from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, both in 1995. Piper explained that their mothers were euthanized after they began frequenting human areas to forage for food, and authorities decided they were too dangerous (and accustomed to humans). The Wildlife Conservation Society was able to give a home to the cubs at the Bronx Zoo.
Betty and Veronica seemed very relaxed. Piper proudly declared, "They are really great bears."
While the pair moved into the exhibit in early December 2014, retrofitting space has taken about a year to design, construct and install. Previously, the polar bear enclosure featured a very deep pool (perfect for Gus's endless laps), but now there's a rugged, mountain-like terrain with streams and waterfalls, plus two special stairways into a more shallow pool. This, Piper pointed out, was different from the Bronx Zoo's bear landscape, which is much flatter—now Betty and Veronica will be doing a lot of climbing and they have much more water to play in.
Click the above image for a panorama (Jen Chung / Gothamist)
There's also a lot of dirt and sand for the bears to dig into. Zookeepers put treats in the sand, like sweet potato and fruit, or smear peanut butter around the rocks for the bears to find. (Today, there was peanut butter and applesauce.) The zoo is planning to do live fish feedings with the bears in the future
The Central Park Zoo's grizzly bear exhibit opens tomorrow, Friday, January 9, 2015, and New Yorkers and tourists alike will get to know Betty and Veronica.
