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American Morning
Female Polar Bear Taken From Circus in Puerto Rico
Aired March 07, 2002 - 09:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now for our warm and fuzzy segment. It is the story of a polar bear rescue. The female bear, named "Alaska," was taken from a circus in Puerto Rico that kept her in captivity and made her perform in the tropical heat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials brought Alaska back into this country, and her new home now will be at the Baltimore Zoo, and of course, visitors to the zoo will be happy to see her, but I imagine not nearly as happy as "Magnet," the zoo's male polar bear.
And Steve Sarro is the curator of mammals and birds at the Baltimore Zoo. He is joining us from in front of the polar bear pen, and let's see if Steve can hear us now. I think we're having a little bit of a problem.
Steve, Paula here.
Hi, how are you?
ZAHN: I'm fine, thanks.
I have a feeling you're hearing a lot of voices in your ear right now. Can you make mine out?
STEVE SARRO, BALTIMORE ZOO: Got you.
ZAHN: Terrific.
Alaska is in quarantine right now. How is she doing?
SARRO: Yes, she is. I'm still having a little trouble hearing you.
ZAHN: OK, let's see if we can straighten this up. You know, as we're trying to fix Steve's audio signal. We're check with Anderson and Jack.
Alaska will remain in quarantine for a short while, and the idea to have her mate with Magnet, who you are going to meet here shortly.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's a hard thing to arrange, though. It doesn't -- there's a lot of chemistry involved. It doesn't automatically happen.
ZAHN: Got a name like Magnet. JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How sad is it that a polar bear has to be rescued from a circus in Puerto Rico. I mean, there are arctic animals that belong where it's cold. I mean, it's awful. Earlier, we had that picture of that big crocodile on the "Tonight Show." I mean, what is it with people. You know, they drag them into a TV studio and lay them on...
ZAHN: It goes after Jay Leno and we're surprised.
I think Steve can hear us now.
Steve, are you with you.
SARRO: Yes, I am. I am back.
ZAHN: OK, Steve. Welcome back.
SARRO: I just lost them.
ZAHN: First of all. OK, we're going to try one more time here.
First of all, how is Alaska doing in quarantine?
SARRO: I'm not hearing anything.
ZAHN: All right, I think fourth time will be the charm here. But apparently Alaska was really very badly treated by the folks that managed her in this Puerto Rican service, and hopefully, on the other side, Steve Sarro will have some very good news for us about how Alaska is doing now, in Baltimore.
CAFFERTY: Are we going to do a break here?
ZAHN: We're going to do a break.
CAFFERTY: There's a good idea.
ZAHN: Fifth time will be the charm, I assure you.
This is the magic of live television.
CAFFERTY: Oh sure, pictures weren't meant to fly...
ZAHN: You've got to roll with the punches.
COOPER: We're going to send a carrier pigeon.
ZAHN: All right, in the coming hour, street racers, NASCAR drivers bring some thrills to inner-city kids. We're going to show you, on the other side.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Just to prove the sixth time is a charm, let's go back to Baltimore Zoo where Steve Sarro is standing by to tell us a little bit about Alaska being -- and home sweet home.
Good morning, Steve.
SARRO: Hi, how are you? I guess we're in now, huh?
ZAHN: We are in, and we're delighted you're with us.
Tell us a little bit about what happened to Alaska, how she was discovered, and how she's doing in quarantine.
SARRO: OK, Alaska was part of a circus that came into Puerto Rico and there was a permitting problem, and fish and wildlife, United States fish and wildlife confiscated her, and we ended up with her here.
ZAHN: And what do you plan to do with her now that she's there?
SARRO: At the Baltimore Zoo, and presently we have another bear named Magnet. He's a 13-year-old male, and he's been here since 1990, and what we're hoping for is that at some point, that Magnet and Alaska will get together.
ZAHN: Now, how successful have you been in the past by bringing in -- like any bear, like Alaska, and hoping that Magnet will be an attraction?
SARRO: Well, we've had -- we've had plenty of bears here historically. The exhibit behind us has been here since the '40s and we're planning on building a completely new huge habitat for our polar bears. We are looking to really be a big part of the AZA bear tag, tax on advisory group, and the species for survival plan with bears.
ZAHN: We're looking at some glorious pictures of magnet doing his thing in the water here.
SARRO: He's gorgeous, isn't he?
ZAHN: Yes. Tell us how long you have had him.
SARRO: We've had him since 1990. He's a great bear. He's a wonderful, wonderful bear. He's about between 850 and 900 pounds, just a little personality, just a wonderful animal. I shouldn't say little -- he's not quite little.
ZAHN: No, he's not very little.
And in contrast, we're going to go back to that picture of Alaska in quarantine. How long will it take for her to get healthy?
I am not Alaska, but there's Alaska.
Steve, are you still with us?
SARRO: I'm picking you up here and there.
ZAHN: OK. How long will it take to get Alaska back on her feet again, make her healthy again?
SARRO: Well, she in came in last night, and we off-loaded her at 1:00 in the morning this morning. She will be in quarantine, a strict quarantine for 30 days where we assess her health, and our veterinary staff, our medical team comes down, and we will do testing on her, make sure she's in good health, and hopefully in about 30 days or so, we will have her starting the introduction process with Magnet.
COOPER: Well, Magnet looks like he's in very good shape back there. Thank you for joining us to tell us a little bit of what Alaska and Magnet might have to deal with in the months to come. Good luck to you, and we hope she continues to make progress.
SARRO: Thank you very much.
ZAHN: We apologize for all those little problems there.
SARRO: That's OK.
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