Orphaned polar bear cub getting new home in NY

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An orphaned Alaska polar bear is getting a new temporary home in Buffalo, N.Y.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the 2- to 3-month-old cub is expected to be transported to the Buffalo Zoo sometime this spring to join the zoo's own cub, Luna.

The Alaska cub is currently being cared for at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage after its mother was killed March 12 by a subsistence hunter near Point Lay on Alaska's northwest coast.

Point Lay residents asked that the bear be named Kali (KUL'-lee), the Inupiat Eskimo name for their village. Zoo officials say the cub now weighs about 23 pounds.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the St. Louis Zoo is being considered as a permanent home for Kali.