HILO — Bengal tigers won’t be the only new arrivals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens this spring.
HILO — Bengal tigers won’t be the only new arrivals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens this spring.
Two American alligators are also set to take up residence in early April.
It’s been decades since the zoo had alligators on display, although the crocodilian species was one of the first to be exhibited at Panaewa. Zoo director Pam Mizuno said Friday the zoo got its first alligator from the Honolulu Zoo.
The new pair is from Colorado Gators Reptile Park, located in the San Luis Valley of Colorado.
According to a July 2014 article by the Los Angeles Time, more than 300 rescued alligators live at the park.
Colorado is not the obvious location for an alligator park, but the ponds at the facility are kept hot year-round by geothermal springs in the area, allowing the reptiles to regulate their temperatures.
Mizuno said the new Panaewa pair will live in the zoo’s refurbished feral pig enclosure. The feral pigs are now in the zoo’s former pygmy hippo enclosure.
“We had a whole bunch of renovations,” Mizuno said.
Funding for the projects came from the Friends of the Panaewa Zoo group. The county supplied additional materials.