Colton Bear has departed the Palace! Curators Coy and Rick raised the Palace crib door, and allowed Colton to decide when he’d leave for the 2nd Wild Enclosure. Colton refused to budge while he could detect “people presence”. As soon as the curators left, Colton made his move. Unfortunately, there was no one around to capture the moment. Sometime later, the curators spied Colton sitting near the Cement Pond, munching on apples. We’ll post photos of Colton as soon as we are able to take them. Meanwhile, let’s look at the aerial view of ABR again, to see just where Colton is. Note the “2nd Wild Enclosure, on the right, outlined with a white line – a caved-in rectangle shape. An arrow points to the “Cement Pond, where Colton was observed. Please realize that this view, being several years old, seems to show the enclosure as a bare, treeless area. This is not true any longer – in fact, the enclosure is quite jungle-like in appearance now, with trees and foliage that have grown up during the past few years when this enclosure was not used.
So you can visualize what Colton is experiencing, here is a photo from last year, showing 2 cubs venturing into the 1st Wild enclosure. The tall grass you see here is pretty much what Colton is finding in his new area.
