ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Saint Louis Zoo says goodbye to a polar bear who had been residing at the zoo for more than close to a decade.
The zoo announced Wednesday that Kali, who had been at the Zoo since 2015, will head to Toledo Zoo and Aquarium.
In exchange, the zoo will receive a pair of polar bear twins Kallik and Kallu, who were born at Toledo Zoo in November 2022 and are named for Indigenous words for Lightning and Thunder.
Kali, who was the first resident of the polar bear point at the zoo, was orphaned as a cub near the Alaska Native Village of Point Lay where residents rescued him and released him to the care of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2013.
He was named for the Iñupiaq name for Point Lay by the students at Kali School.
During his time at the zoo, Kali grew from an adolescent bear weighing about 750 lbs. to an adult that weighs up to 1,300 lbs. during his heaviest times of year.
Kali soon became known by his Saint Louis Zoo care team as gregarious, curious and intelligent. He often seemed to enjoy watching Zoo guests as much as they loved watching him.
Kallik and Kallu moved into the Saint Louis Zoo earlier this week and are residing in the zoo’s 40,000-square-foot polar bear habitat, McDonnell Polar Bear Point.
Kali will now have a chance at the Toledo Zoo to mate with Crystal, Toledo Zoo’s resident 26-year-old polar bear and also the mother to Kallik and Kallu.
The zoo says since Kali was an orphaned wild-born bear, his genes are especially valuable to the genetic diversity of polar bears in human care.
“Kali is a special bear beloved by so many people here in St. Louis,” said Julie Hartell-DeNardo, the Zoo’s Kevin Beckmann Curator of Carnivores. “While we’ll miss him greatly, this important opportunity allows Kali to contribute to the future of his species.”
Kallik and Kallu will make their public debuts at the zoo in the coming weeks after a quarantine and acclimation period.