posted October 11, 2004 07:24 PM         

They barely made it.

Escaping an out-of-state death sentence, two "problem" grizzly bears arrived at the San Francisco Zoo on Sunday afternoon after a riding in the bed of a Chevy pickup truck on a nearly 48-hour road trip from Montana.

Enclosed in an igloo-shaped metal crate with several holes just big enough to grab snoutfuls of fresh air along the way, the cross-country trip was bearable for the two 18-month-old sister grizzlies, considering their alternative.

"It was either death or California. Since grizzlies were once endemic to California and are even on the state flag, they should fit in just fine," said Bob Jenkins, director of animal care for the San Francisco Zoo.

The two bears owe their very lives to the good people of San Francisco. The bears were scheduled to be euthanized by authorities in Montana after becoming too aggressive in the wild toward people. Their stay of execution was the result of the invitation from the San Francisco Zoo, which has not had grizzlies on the premises since 1989. They will also become the sixth and seventh grizzlies in all of California, which had once been home to thousands.

The sisters had been recently orphaned in northwestern Montana when their mother was humanely destroyed by wildlife officials last fall after becoming involved with too many "human conflict situations," according to Stella Capoccia, director of the Montana Wildlife Center.

The truck, driven by Capoccia, pulled up into the zoo's back entrance at around 3:30 p.m. The bears greeted dozens of zookeepers, reporters and television news crews with one sharp growl as the truck dipped down a small hill and into the quarantine area driveway.

The container carrying the orphaned sisters, temporarily named F-21 and F- 22 until the zoo completes a bear-naming contest, was forklifted off of the truck and into a high-security quarantined area of the zoo as several zoo employees and a peacock looked on.

One of the bears took a small swipe at the cage sometime during the approximately 45-minute move from the truck to the quarantine area.

"They were really well-behaved for most of the trip but got a little grumpy during the last few of hours when it was more stop and go and they were getting jostled around," said Capoccia.

The bears, which weigh between 145 and 165 pounds, ate 50 pounds of dog food and 10 pounds of deer and antelope meat during the trip, Capoccia said. There were no pit stops for the bears.

For the next two months, the bears will undergo a rigorous quarantine inside a brand new, state-of-the-art $1 million concrete quarantine building adjacent to the animal hospital, behind the new African savanna exhibit and in full view of the giraffes.

Only zoo veterinarian Freeland Dunker, three veterinary technicians and three food and custodial workers will be allowed inside during the quarantine. The triple-locked building contains four comfortable cages with heavy steel bars. Each has a fancy skylight, fluorescent lights, filtered air, fire sprinklers and a comfy sleeping platform.

To enter, a zoo worker passes through an airlock, enters into a "clean" room and changes into special coveralls and a mask. After cleaning the bears' cages, the worker must shower, shampoo, wash his hands with antimicrobial soap and walk through a basin full of shoe disinfectant -- all to prevent any possible contaminants from reaching the rest of the zoo animals.

The bears' excrement will be given special treatment. Dunker will analyze some of it for worms and germs. The rest will be sprayed with disinfectant and taken to a special dumpster which will not be moved or emptied for two months, to prevent the droppings from being disturbed in any fashion. The more the poop is jostled, the riskier it is for all concerned, Dunker says.

The bears will get to play with an old tire, a giant plastic spool and two other large plastic toys. All were carefully scrubbed down with disinfectant. During their stay in isolation, the bears will eat apples, carrots, meat and grains -- just about anything. Being omnivores, Dunker said, bears are not picky.

It is possible that some of the quarantine procedures will be relaxed after a few weeks if the bears show no sign of disease or parasites. Dunker said he will observe the bears twice a day.

The bears' truck trip from Montana was a last-minute change of plans. The grizzlies were supposed to be flown from Helena, Mont., to San Francisco on Wednesday, but they balked at being placed into separate crates for the plane ride and refused to co-operate. Authorities decided they could travel together by truck instead.

Dunker said the new quarantine building solves a major problem for the zoo, which previously had to turn down several animal acquisitions because it didn't have a quarantine facility for large animals. The zoo missed out on monkeys and antelope during the last couple of years. The new building brings the San Francisco Zoo up to national standards, quarantine-wise.

Previously, the zoo often had to pay other facilities to conduct quarantines on its behalf. That turned out to be more expensive in the long run than building the $1 million facility, Dunker said.

"This is very exciting,'' he said. "We've been waiting to get this for a long time. Now we can do things right.''

The quarantine may take only 60 days, according to Jenkins.

"It really is up to the bears," he said. "They're very rambunctious. It's going to be like having two teenaged daughters. Two very beautiful daughters, of course."

~SFGate.com