Polar Bears Aus and NZ
- Thread starter SHARYNT
- Start date
I believe the last Polar bears in Australia (prior to Sea World’s imports) were the pair at Adelaide Zoo (Bjurn and Tasha). They were sent to Taman Safari in 1992.
Taronga Zoo’s last Polar bear was a female named Ingrid. She was sent to Auckland Zoo in 1984 after the death of her male companion.
I can find an article about the death of a male Polar bear at Melbourne Zoo in 1980. An article from 1982 details complaints over the bear’s living conditions - proving they still held the species.
If you’re wanting to know the last death (not the last Polar bear), I’d imagine it occurred at Melbourne Zoo around the mid 1980’s; or possibly Adelaide Zoo around the same time. The pair they exported to Indonesia were from a group of four imported in 1976 - with the other two dying sometime before 1992.
The last Polar bears in New Zealand died October 1995 and December 1995 respectively.
Thank you very much, much appreciated
You’re welcome.
Auckland Zoo held them from their opening day in 1922 to the death of the last bears in 1995. They sourced several young wild caught bears via animal dealers during the first two decades - with many bears dying young.
Auckland Zoo first bred the species in 1957 - one cub died at birth; the other drowned at 11 weeks old. The mother produced twins again in 1960, with one cub (Chimo) surviving to adulthood.
A pair imported in 1964 (Joachim and Lisbeth) also produced several litters, though none of the cubs survived more than one day. Joachim was Auckland Zoo’s last Polar bear.