Two orphaned brown bear cubs have a new home at Brookfield Zoo. The story of their arrival in Brookfield is interesting and at its heart it’s about the growing tension between an estimated population of 30,000 bears in Alaska with a growing and physically expanding human footprint in cities such as Anchorage.
The mother of these two cubs was killed in Anchorage when her foraging got her too close to humans. Local wildlife agents rescued the cubs, placed them in a local zoo while a permanent solution could be found.
That solution was transporting them to Brookfield Zoo. This isn’t the first time the zoo has taken in cubs from Alaska. Back in 1995, Brookfield also adopted two bears from the same agency in Alaska. When one those bears, Jim, died last year, the zoo was looking to add bears to its collection.
Now 10 months old and 150 pounds, the brother and sister, are transitioning at Brookfield Zoo with medical testing and socializing underway. It may be a time before they are put on public view and then it is likely to be in somewhat separate quarters.
We anticipate some sort of naming contest in our immediate future. It may inevitably tilt toward the baseball team. In which case we lobby for Fergie and Ernie.
Small-town holidays
In today’s Landmark we have coverage of the imminent holiday festivities in our three communities. There is the North Riverside WinterFest, Brookfield’s Holiday Celebration and Riverside’s Holiday Stroll.
Each event holds similarities but each has been crafted and has evolved to be a near-perfect reflection of its community. In North Riverside the Village Commons is the gathering place, as it is throughout the year. Riverside’s stroll is focused on the historic downtown with its train station and landmark public buildings. Its list of festivities is boundless. And in Brookfield there is an expanding day of fun with the first-ever Kris Kringle Market, a vendor fair, taking place in the village hall parking lot. The more traditional afternoon and evening fun will stretch along the Grand Boulevard and Broadway corridors.
These annual events are certainly a lure for shoppers from across the suburbs. But most essentially, they are each a hometown gathering where neighbors see neighbors, good wishes are shared, and the holiday season is launched.
Thanks to the dozens and hundreds of volunteers and organizations that come together to make this magic.