Polar bears in Europe

On Friday 10 December, two polar bears were born in ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen. Unfortunately, one of them died after only two days. Since the other cub was drinking regularly and was lively, it was hoped that it would survive. Unfortunately, this one also died. Mother Lara is now allowed to stay in the den, where she has been since mid-November, until her behaviour shows that she wants to go out. Father of the young was Bill.

Source: Eisbärnachwuchs ist leider gestorben
 
Polar bear Katjuscha died at Zoo Berlin. With her 37 years she was the oldest polar bear in Europe. She had been undergoing treatment for a long time due to a heart condition. With Katjuscha, the last polar bear in Zoo Berlin died. In the coming weeks a decision will be made whether or not the zoo will continue to keep polar bears.

Source: Facebook Zoo Berlin
 
MennoPebesma said:
Polar bear Katjuscha died at Zoo Berlin. With her 37 years she was the oldest polar bear in Europe. She had been undergoing treatment for a long time due to a heart condition. With Katjuscha, the last polar bear in Zoo Berlin died. In the coming weeks a decision will be made whether or not the zoo will continue to keep polar bears.

Source: Facebook Zoo Berlin
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Personally, I would favour BZ to restrict itself to sloth bears and renovate the bear exbibit area. What do you think?
 
Imo, there is enough space for 3 big bear species at Berlin Zoo. Leaving giant pandas as a special exception aside, I would go with polar bears, sloth bears and Syrian brown bears OR Asian black bears, while TP Berlin should keep in addition spectacled bears, American black bears, Malayan sun bears AND polar bears. The reason of the duplication is the threat of polar bears in the wild, the security of the captive population in European zoos and their high popularity among visitors. However, a duplication with Malayan sun bears would also be a good solution.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Personally, I would favour BZ to restrict itself to sloth bears and renovate the bear exbibit area. What do you think?
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I have never been to Zoo Berlin, so I have not seen the enclosure in real life. From pictures it looks good. Not too big, but maybe big enough for (a) polar bear(s). The polar bear EEP could use that space well for, say, a bear not needed for breeding. But as I said, I have never seen the enclosure myself, so I don't know how big it is exactly.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Personally, I would favour BZ to restrict itself to sloth bears and renovate the bear exbibit area. What do you think?
Click to expand...
I think this is a good idea, Tierpark has polar bears too and the two seem to be trying to keep different species from each other. What has been done with the Asiatic black bear enclosure since the last one died?

Currently the zoo has two bears with sloth bears and giant pandas and the Tierpark has spectacled, polar, and sun bears. Having 3 distinct species each would be nice, I guess for the zoo a third option that makes sense would be some kind of brown bear... especially as they are the symbol of the city itself.
 
Mayki said:
I think this is a good idea, Tierpark has polar bears too and the two seem to be trying to keep different species from each other. What has been done with the Asiatic black bear enclosure since the last one died?

Currently the zoo has two bears with sloth bears and giant pandas and the Tierpark has spectacled, polar, and sun bears. Having 3 distinct species each would be nice, I guess for the zoo a third option that makes sense would be some kind of brown bear... especially as they are the symbol of the city itself.
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Pyrenean or Marsicano bears perhaps - not if there is a breeding program in Europe for -?
 
Polar bear Blizzard died yesterday at Zoo Karlsruhe. He had been kept under surveillance since Monday, after he had received veterinary treatment for a wound on his thigh under anaesthetic. A blood test had already revealed his extremely high kidney values.

After his condition had been stable during the week, it worsened considerably on Friday. Another anaesthetic for further examination was planned for Sunday 6 February, but the day before keepers found him dead in the indoor enclosure. The cause of the high kidney values and the exact cause of death are not known at this moment.

Source: Karlsruhe: Eisbär im Zoo Karlsruhe gestorben
 
MennoPebesma said:
Recently a polar bear was born at the Highland Wildlife Park. Mother Victoria and young will be left alone for the time being. So far they are both doing well. Father is Arktos. He and Walker, the other male in the park, can still be seen in their enclosure.
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A health check revealed that it is a male.

MennoPebesma said:
At the Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Denmark, polar bear twins were born on 12 December last year. The cubs have survived the first critical days and are doing very well. Mother Nuno takes good care of the cubs who also drink regularly. Father of the cubs is male Boris (Ivan).
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A health check revealed that they are two females.
 
MennoPebesma said:
At the Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Denmark, polar bear twins were born on 12 December last year. The cubs have survived the first critical days and are doing very well. Mother Nuno takes good care of the cubs who also drink regularly. Father of the cubs is male Boris (Ivan).

Source: Isbjørneunger 2022 - Skandinavisk Dyrepark

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Didn't realise Polar cubs make that loud vibrating noise when suckling, like Brown bears do.
 
MennoPebesma said:
On 14 November two polar bears were born in Zoo Rostock. For mother Sizzel and father Akiak it is the first time they have had young. Everything seems to go well with the youngsters, which gives good hope that they will survive their first critical days and weeks.

Source: Instagram of Zoo Rostock
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MennoPebesma said:
A check-up of the youngsters revealed that they are both female.
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The names of the two females were announced last Friday. Their names are Kaja and Skadi. Kaja means the beautiful one and Skadi is the name of goddess of hunting and winter.

Father of the cubs, male Akiak, will move to another zoo at the end of March. He will move to Parc Zoologique d'Amnéville in France. There he will live together with his half-brother Henk, who moved here from Dierenrijk earlier this year.

Source: Rostocker Zoo: Eisbär-Mädchen heißen Kaja und Skadi
 
Polar bear male Lloyd moved from Zoo am Meer in Bremerhaven to the Zoo Karlsruhe today. In Bremerhaven he and the female Valeska had four cubs. To keep the European polar bear population as genetically diverse as possible, it was decided that no more cubs would be born from this pair. As polar bears are now well bred in Europe, the EEP has imposed a breeding stop for all but a few pairs. This is to prevent there being no more room for polar bear young to go to another zoo. The war in Ukraine also plays a role in this. Polar bears cannot be moved to Ukrainian and Russian zoos. Other EEP zoos should therefore keep their own young as long as possible.

In Karlsruhe Lloyd will live together with a female. These two animals will also not be bred with. In Bremerhaven there is still a female Valeska and her two youngsters Anna and Elsa.

Source: Eisbär Lloyd wechselt in den Zoologischen Stadtgarten Karlsruhe - Zoo am Meer Bremerhaven
 
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