SC zoo sending sea lions to Ill. to await new home

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The sea lions at South Carolina’s largest zoo are moving to Chicago this month.

Riverbanks Zoo is closing the sea lion exhibit it’s had since it opened in 1974, so it can build a new one.

But The State newspaper reported the replacement won’t be coming anytime soon. The zoo doesn’t have the money for a new home for the sea lions.

The two remaining California sea lions at Riverbanks, 18-year-old Zuma and 8-year-old Sonoma, will be shipped to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago on May 18.

Executive director Satch Krantz says bringing the sea lions back to Riverbanks is one of the zoo’s top priorities.

The zoo will have to ask Richland and Lexington counties to borrow the money to build a new exhibit. It would take at least two years to plan and build a new exhibit.

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