Munsey and Boda Celebrate Second Birthday
Two of Marshfield’s favorite furry residents are turning 2 years-old next week (approx. February 21). Rescued when they were just weeks-old cubs, Kodiak bears Munsey and Boda had a sad start to life. After their mother was illegally shot on Kodiak Island, Alaska, the cubs were rescued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and named for their rescuers Mike Munsey and Nate Svoboda. Today, they reside at the JP Adler Kodiak Bear Exhibit at Wildwood Zoo.
“Both bears are thriving at Wildwood Zoo,” said Zookeeper Steve Burns. “On their first birthday Munsey, weighed 210 lbs and Boda weighed 230. Today Munsey weighs about 515 lbs and Boda weighs about 555. Both bears stand about 7 feet tall on their hind legs.”
Munsey and Boda currently eat 24 cups of bear chow, 4.5 lbs of meat, and a bucket of produce every day. The bears will continue to grow both in size and weight for another 3-4 years.
“At maturity we expect the bears to weight more than 1800 pounds and stand over 10 feet tall,” said Burns.
In the last year, Munsey and Boda have enjoyed a lot of attention from both the community and visitors to Marshfield. For the second winter in a row, the bears chose not to hibernate, instead continuing to entertain throughout the season.
“In the last year we have maintained a training program with the bears,” said Burns. “This serves as enrichment for them as well as a management tool for us as caretakers.”
Since autumn, both bears have grown to a size where they can no longer scale the trees in their exhibit. Favorite activities for them right now are wrestling, playing with fire hose, foraging for food in the bear woods, and napping. Along with physical and mental enrichment, the bears are also exercising their artistic abilities.
“One of their newest hobbies is painting,” said Burns. “Our assistant keeper, Cassy, made a pvc paint brush holder for the bears and works with them to create ‘Kodiak Originals’. Right now the painting is just a form of enrichment for the bears, but we hope to turn their works into a fundraising project in the future.”
Burns’ favorite part of working with the bears is getting to see how happy they are.
“Our bear enclosure really is an amazing exhibit. It provides the bears plenty of space to exhibit many of the natural behaviors that bears in the wild would. This is essential to their overall physical and emotional wellbeing,” he said.
He also enjoys getting to know their individual personalities and seeing firsthand just how smart the animals are.
“Our bears are young, energetic and enthusiastic. Their excitement and willingness to interact with us and each other during training sessions and enrichment activities is very gratifying as a caretaker,” he said. “I’ve seen how people have become attached to the bears; I am proud of the job they are doing as ambassadors for their species and native habitat. I think they have inspired many to care more about the natural world and our responsibilities as stewards of it.”
Visit Munsey and Boda at Wildwood Zoo. Winter hours are 7:30am-2:30pm daily. Donate to the Wildwood Zoo here.
Photos for this story provided by Daryn Bahn.
Video from their 1st Birthday last February:
