‘Conductors of chaos’: Orphaned grizzly cubs make debut at Calgary Zoo

Two grizzly cubs taken in by the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo after being orphaned are now on display in the zoo’s Wild Canada exhibit.

The cubs, born last year, were discovered alone in southern Alberta after their mother was killed in an encounter with a human near Diamond Valley.

Because of their young age, the bears were fully dependent on their mom and would have died if left alone in the wild.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Alberta Fish and Wildlife turned the bears over to the zoo while their permanent home was determined, but since the zoo had space for them, it was decided they ought to stay.

The cubs are named Fitz and Turner — both names inspired by the area where they came from; Fritz is named after Fitzsimmons Creek near Diamond Valley and Turner is named after Turner Valley.

The cubs spent some time getting settled to captivity in the back-of-house space in Wild Canada but are now on display to the public.

Animal care supervisor Jax Hoggard says the bears are “doing phenomenally.”

“They are the absolute cutest baby grizzly bears you are ever going to see,” she said. “They’re magical little conductors of chaos.

“They’re doing great! Health-wise they are growing as expected,” she said. “Their weights are awesome — they are sitting at 110 kilograms (243 pounds) for Fitz, and Turner is about 116 kilograms (256 pounds) — so right on par with where they should be at just over a year old.“Their coats are shiny and gorgeous; they’ve shed out their winter coats and have out their spring coats coming in.”

Hoggard notes though they are siblings, the bears do look very different.

“One is a very, very dark colour — he’s black —that’s Turner. He’s the larger of the two. He does look smaller — black, apparently, is very slimming — but he is the one that is 116 kilograms.”

Fitz, meanwhile, is a light brown with silver-tinged highlights and a prominent hump.

Each of the cubs is fed roughly four or five kilograms of food per day.

Hoggard says the cubs rely on each other.

“When nervous or scared, they always do tend to go back together and be together; they find comfort in each other,” she said, adding that their play behaviour is “something that’s truly magical to see.”

In the beginning, it seemed Fitz was the bolder of the two, but Hoggard says Turner has evolved to become the most confident and brave of the bears.

“He’s always the first one to go start playing with the enrichment items,” she said.

Hoggard says guests will likely be able to get up close and personal with the bears as they frequent the glass windows in their enclosure.

“They are making the windows incredibly dirty every single day with super cute little nose prints and paw prints and interactions with guests.”

For more information on the zoo, you can visit the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo website.