The Alaska Zoo in Anchorage invited the public to bid farewell Friday to two orphaned black bear cubs.
One is a male that was found near Valdez and was brought to the zoo in May. The other is a small female that weighed just 14.5 pounds after being rescued in the Juneau area by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. Both animals were undernourished and well below their target weights.
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Since arriving at the Alaska Zoo, both cubs have doubled in size and are ready to move to their permanent home at the San Francisco Zoo.
Currently, there are six orphaned bears at the Alaska Zoo, more than executive director Patrick Lampi has ever seen, he said. The zoo has arranged permanent homes for all of them: five black bears and one brown bear.