By Patrick Baron

BLOOMINGTON – Miller Park Zoo will bid farewell to some of its animals this summer, but will bring in a few new faces as well.

The Bloomington zoo is preparing to send off its seals to the Louisville Zoo. Park Director Jay Tetzloff explained the exhibit for the seals is a bit small for them, so the zoo plans to send them to a new, more spacious home.

“[The pool is] 25,000 gallons, pretty small. The holding area for them in the back is very, very small, so we felt that it was in the seals’ best interest that we send them on to the Louisville Zoo,” said Tetzloff. He added the Louisville Zoo pool is around 110,000 gallons.

For fans of the seals, there is still time to visit them at the zoo. Tetzloff said the zoo is getting the word out about the move early so people have time to visit them before they head off to Louisville in September. He noted some new animals will be joining the zoo’s family later.

“It’ll be the summer of seals. We wanted to announce early enough that people can come out and enjoy them through the summer. We’re probably looking right around Labor Day, a little after. We’ll probably have a little party for them going away,” explained Tetzloff. “Then we’ll do some renovations over the winter and have alligators this time next year.”

Tetzloff said he wanted to bring in animals the zoo hasn’t had before in order to get people interested about different types of animals.

“We hope to have three total, one being a white, and show something that’s unique, and another opportunity for us to educate and talk about and get people engaged about wildlife,” Tetzloff explained.

Tetzloff hopes the zoo receives the white alligator, noting that there are only 100 in existence. The zoo recently welcomed a Hooded Crane, and will soon add two Guanaco and a Greater Rhea.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].