TACOMA, Wash. — One of Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s beloved polar bears officially has a brand-new home.
Six-year-old Laerke moved from Tacoma to St. Louis, and arrived safely at the Saint Louis Zoo Thursday, according to the Saint Louis Zoo.
Laerke will join her new mate, almost four-year-old Kallu, in the hope that, one day, they will welcome cubs together.
This move was done likely as part of an effort to grow the polar bear population, which faces a “high risk of extinction,” according to the Saint Louis Zoo.
The Saint Louis Zoo notes that, while Laerke is settling in at the zoo, the two might not be seen together in the zoo’s habitat until sometime next year.
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