Bridgeport's Beardsley Zoo started the construction process on its Andean Bear habitat Thursday.

The zoo will welcome the bears to Bridgeport for the first time in 10 years. The animals are native to the Andes mountains.

The bear population is dwindling and the species is currently listed as vulnerable for extinction.

“We're trying to hit all the points, we want the conservation aspect of this, working with a critical endangered species, we want the educational component for people to learn about the rain forest where these guys come from,” says zoo director Gregg Dancho. “Andean bears are really great because they come from South America and they range from the mountaintops down to the river valleys.”

News 12 is told construction is expected to be complete by the spring of 2022.