Bear and Coyote Exhibit continues to delight at the Sequoia Park Zoo

The Bear and Coyote Exhibit at the Sequoia Park Zoo continues to be the talk of the town since opening this summer.

“The Bear and Coyote Exhibit was part of our master plan for several years before this,” zoo director Jim Campbell-Spickler said. “It was an exhibit that took us about two years to build,” Right now, we have the habitat occupied by two black bears, but next year in 2024, we are hoping to have a coyote, maybe two.”

The two bears, Noni and Tule, made the exhibit their home after being born in spring of 2022.

Since then, the yearlings have been making the most of their new home.

“We have an animal enrichment program and animal care program that’s designed for the bears,” zoo keeper Ruth Mock said. “And we want to see bears out there climbing trees, playing in the water, digging foraging for food, problem solving. All the things that bears would be doing in our wild habitats around the area.”

The Redwood Skywalk at the Zoo provides a great look at the bears from above. Guests can see the bears wrestle and even chase each other as they climb the tall redwoods.

Noni is known for climbing to the top, then doing the “scoot and slide” to get back to the ground.

This exhibit was brought to life at the zoo with the help of the Bear River Band of Roehnerville rancheria.

“Bear river has been a major contributor to this habitat creation. They’ve been a partner all the way,” Campbell-Spickler said. “They helped us with this amazing plankhouse. The plankhouse includes a wall where the zookeepers can interact with the bears during training sessions.”

Bear River provided most of the funding for the exhibit proper.

And though the zoo itself is not involved in fat bear week, I was curious about how large black bears can get. 

“California black bears don’t get quite as large as some other black bears and their many sub-species. We think the bears might be several hundred pounds,” Mock said. “We don’t know how big they are going to get. But the females are a little bit smaller than the males generally. They’re certainly not full size yet.”