Visitors to the Assiniboine Park Zoo got their first up close look at Storm today. The wild, 3-year-old polar bear came from Churchill to Winnipeg earlier this fall and as visitors told CTV News he's making a great first impression.
"I think he's gorgeous. Yeah, he's beautiful," said zoo patron Cheryl Keen.
Zoo staff members say Storm's first encounter with the general public went about as smoothly as they could have hoped. One staff member spoke to the crowd as she fed the bears, saying Storm has places he can go if he wants to get away from people, but so far he doesn’t appear to be stressed by the attention.
A steady stream of visitors made their way down to welcome storm on his first day. Morgan Scharf hopes his presence in Winnipeg will bring attention to the plight of wild polar bears.
"The more you see an animal, I guess the more likely you are to fall in love with it and help out their cause, so it's nice that people can come and see them," he said.
Storm now joins two-year-old Hudson as the only two bears on public display at the zoo. Staff introduced the two for the first time earlier in the week and say the meeting went well, but for now the two reside in side-by-side enclosures.
The two bears and a pair of one-year-old cubs that have yet to make their public debut will move into the Journey to Churchill exhibit when it is completed next year.
The zoo has not yet announced when the one-year-old female cubs - Aurora and Kaska - will be out for the public to see.
- With a report by Ben Miljure
