Monday, June 18, 2012

When the threat of flooding prompted a North Dakota zoo to send some of its animals to a wildlife park in Wichita last year, the animals were expected to stay in Kansas for four to six weeks.

A year later, the lions, leopards, giraffes and several other animals are still at the Tanganyika Wildlife Park.

No one at the wildlife park or at Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N.D., knows when the animals will be returned to the zoo.

The animals' old home in Minot is undergoing a major renovation after the Souris River flooded last summer.

In all, the zoo sent more than 200 animals to about 15 zoos around the country. Some animals originally sent to other zoos ended up in Wichita because those zoos didn't have room to keep them during the winter.