Grizzly orphans transferred from Calgary to Saskatoon

Two young grizzly bearsthat were orphaned ascubs and spent more than two years at the Calgary Zoo are getting acquainted with their new home in Saskatoon.

Koda and Mistaya were transferred to the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo on June 12 said Calgary Zoo officials on Monday.

"We have watched these two cubs grow up together and it is really wonderful to have found a home for them at an accredited institution in Western Canada where the brotherly relationship that has developed can continue," said Calgary Zoo curator Bob Peel.

Mistaya is the sole surviving cub of Bear 66, who was struck and killed by a train in Banff National Park in August 2005.

Bear experts had wanted to keepher threecubs in the wild and try to get them safely through their first winter, but less than a month after their mother's death, Mistaya's two siblings were struck and killed by traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Zoocheck Canada, an animal welfare group, lobbied to haveMistaya rehabilitated and returned to the wild, but Parks Canada felt the cubwould not survive in the wild on his own.

Koda was orphanedin the Jasper/Hinton area, and was initially nurtured by zookeepers at the Edmonton Valley Zoo.

Both cubs were brought together at the Calgary Zoo during a search for a suitable permanent home.

The Saskatoon facility is finishing a large new enclosure for the two cubs that facility manager John Moran saidincludes a pond and lots of space for them to "continue digging, wrestling and romping."

"They are a welcome addition and will continue to be ambassadors for their species through our visitor education programs," said Moran.