Como Zoo Lends A Helping Hand To Duluth-Flooded Zoo

Como Zoo, which is south of Roseville in neighboring St. Paul, said today (Thursday) it is temporarily holding two harbor seals and the polar bear from the Lake Superior Zoo after Duluth was hit by a devastating flood late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
 
In a news statement, Como Zoo officials said a team of their zookeepers drove to Duluth Wednesday evening to retrieve the seals and polar bear. They arrived back at Como Zoo in St. Paul at about 2 a.m. today (Thursday, June 21), Como Zoo officials said.
 
“We were in communication with the Lake Superior Zoo for much of the day Wednesday," Michelle Furrer, director of the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, said in a statement. "When they determined it would be in the best interest of the animals to temporarily send them to Como as they dealt with the flooding, we were ready to respond.”
 
The harbor seals and polar bear are the same animals that temporarily escaped from their exhibit at the Lake Superior Zoo as a result of the flooding, Como Zoo officials said. "They will be quarantined away from Como Zoo’s animals, a standard procedure with all incoming animals."

The Lake Superior polar bear will make his temporary home in Polar Bear Odyssey, Como’s new 16,000 square-foot state-of-the-art bear habitat. The harbor seals will be in the Aquatic Building, home of Sparky the Sea Lion, penguins, puffins and other aquatic animals.

Como Zoo officials said they don't know how long the animals will stay or if they will be on display.