Detroit Zoo to Get Third Endangered Polar Bear this Summer

Royal Oak, MI — Tundra, a 29-year-old polar bear, is moving from Indianapolis to the Detroit Zoo.

The Indianapolis Zoo’s polar bear exhibit needs an upgrade, so its lone resident, Tundra, will move to the Detroit Zoo’s spacious Arctic Ring of Life exhibit, according to a news release.

“The Zoo’s veterinary staff carefully reviewed all of the options and agree that the Detroit Zoo is the perfect facility for Tundra’s needs as a senior bear,” according to the release. “Considered one of the leading polar bear facilities in the world, the Detroit Zoo offers large spaces and pools with easy slopes for Tundra to enter and exit the water, especially as she gets older.”

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Tundra moved to the Indy Zoo as a cub in 1988, the year the exhibit opened. 

The Indy Zoo said the decision to permanently close its polar bear exhibit, which was state-of-the-art when it opened, was “very difficult.”

Tundra will be moved to the Detroit Zoo sometime after June 22 and will join resident polar bears Talini, born in 2004 at the zoo, and Nuka, who arrived in 2011 as a potential mate for her.

Detroit Zoo photo

The Indy Zoo invited memories of Tundra on its Facebook page. Many said they were sad to see Tundra go but happy that she would be moving to such spacious quarters where she will have the company of two other polar bears.

Main image credit: Indianapolis Zoo