{"id":439568,"date":"2026-01-30T21:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/439568\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T21:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:13:07","slug":"polar-bear-with-improbable-survival-story-now-calls-michigan-his-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/439568\/","title":{"rendered":"Polar bear with improbable survival story now calls Michigan his home"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROYAL OAK, MI – A polar bear with an improbable survival story has just moved to Michigan. 13-year old Kali now calls the Detroit Zoo\u2019s<\/a> Arctic Ring of Life habitat his home.<\/p>\n

Kali came to the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak from the Toledo Zoo<\/a> on a carefully coordinated transfer designed to support the long-term sustainability of polar bear populations in accredited zoos around the world.<\/p>\n

Kali\u2019s survival story started as a cub. Zoo officials say he was rescued after being found orphaned by residents of the Native Village of Point Lay, Alaska in 2013.<\/p>\n

Kali was then released to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2015, he moved to the Saint Louis Zoo, before relocating to the Toledo Zoo in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis successful transfer reflects the collaboration of our teams in Detroit and Toledo, as well as a shared commitment to animal well-being and conservation,\u201d said Mike Murray, chief life sciences officer for the Detroit Zoo. <\/p>\n

As part of the move, Nuka has been relocated<\/a> to Toledo after living at the Detroit Zoo.<\/p>\n

\u201cNuka is an incredible polar bear, and we know he will continue to thrive in Toledo, where he will once again be paired with female polar bear Crystal. Here in Detroit, Kali is already settling in, and we know he will be an outstanding ambassador for his species and a wonderful addition to the polar bear group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kali now shares a habitat with females Suka, 13, who arrived in 2018<\/a>, and Haley, 23, who arrived last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under the supervision of the Zoo\u2019s animal care team, Kali will gradually be introduced to Haley and Suka, with the bears initially spending time on opposite sides of their spacious, 4-acre habitat.<\/p>\n

Kali will have access to his public outdoor habitat but may also choose to spend time indoors or out of public view as he adjusts to his new home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROYAL OAK, MI – A polar bear with an improbable survival story has just moved to Michigan. 13-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-439568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}