ASHEBORO, N.C. — Editor's Note: Video features Zoo expansion project.
The North Carolina Zoo is welcoming its newest resident -- a 740-pound male grizzly bear named Ronan.
Staff relocated the 9-year-old grizzly from the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona, based on a recommendation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
“We are so excited to welcome Ronan to the Zoo,” said the Zoo’s Curator of Mammals Jay Stutz. “He is settling in well and already building meaningful relationships with his keepers. We all look forward to the experiences that he will share with our guests and staff.”
Since the summer, the NC Zoo's grizzly bear habitat has been empty. That followed the death of Tommo, a beloved grizzly bear who lived at the zoo for 26 years.
Ronan and his twin sister Finley were rescued in 2013 and relocated to the Reid Park Zoo when they were just barely one year old. Wildlife officials in Yellowstone deemed their mother a "nuisance" bear. Nuisance bears have lost their fear of humans because they start to associate people as suppliers of food.
Zoo officials say now that Ronan and Finley are older, it's time for them to live separate lives because grizzlies are solitary animals.