Pinocchio to Go on Breeding-Loan at Nashville Zoo
If you plan to visit Pinocchio, the Andean bear, at the Salisbury Zoo – you only have a few weeks before he goes on vacation to the Nashville Zoo. He will be on a breeding loan – through the Species Survival Plan – which manages the Andean bear population in the US.
Pinocchio will return at a later date, but while he is gone – it will allow at least on of the cubs that Salisbury’s female Andean bear, Chaska, gave birth to 16 months ago to be separated from her.
Pinocchio arrived at the Salisbury Zoo in 2017 from Ecuador where he was born in the wild but abandoned by his mother. Although steps were taken to see if he could be released back into the wild, conservation biologists determined he would not fare well in that situation and he found a new home in Salisbury. His pairing with a female at the Nashville Zoo will provide much-needed genetic diversity.
It’s expected Pinocchio will leave the Salisbury Zoo before the end of June.
