Grizzly bear cubs have been named and are ready to show off for the public

Their names are almost as cute as they are.

Two grizzly bear cubs making their home at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park have been named Hawthorne and Huckleberry.

Their keepers suggested several Northwest names and more than 2,100 people voted for their favorites online.

Other name contenders were Bandera, Glacier, Kenai and Sitka.

The public can see the cubs for the first time Thursday (Sept. 20).

“Like human toddlers, these cubs will run hard and play hard, then be ready for lunch and a nap,” keeper Angela Gibson said. “They’re highly energetic, leaping logs and exploring every corner of their habitat.”

The grizzlies eventually will share an exhibit, but for now they’re being kept in separate behind-the-scenes dens until they get used to each other.

Hawthorne can be seen from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Huckleberry can be seen from 1-3 p.m.

Both bears arrived last month after being orphaned in the wild.

A hunter killed Hawthorne’s mother in Alaska. Weighing just 10 pounds, he was discovered next to his mother’s body and sent to the Anchorage zoo.

Huckleberry came from Montana after a farmer killed his mother because she attacked the farmer’s pigs.

Neither grizzly could be released back into the wild.

Northwest Trek received its first grizzly bears in 1993, but this is the first time it has adopted cubs.

This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 10:50 AM.