The Calgary Zoo is reporting that Baffin, one of its two polar bears, failed to surface from a plunge pool on Friday
The Calgary Zoo is reporting that Baffin, one of its two male polar bears, died Friday morning after failing to surface from a plunge pool.
Jamie Dorgan, the zoo’s interim CEO and chief operating officer, said Baffin and Siku were sparring in the pool around 11:30 a.m., as is normal behaviour for them, when staff noticed Baffin had not surfaced.
Siku was moved to another area of the bears’ enclosure within the Wild Canada Zone and the zoo closed down soon after.
“Baffin was deceased in the pool,” Dorgan told reporters. “It’s absolutely a huge shock today.”
Dorgan said it’s not yet known what might have gone wrong and an investigation is ongoing.
He said the zoo is doing everything it can to support staff and volunteers stunned by Baffin’s death.
Baffin and Siku arrived from the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg last fall — the first polar bears at the Calgary Zoo since 1999 — before taking up residence in the revamped $40-million Wild Canada Zone, which opened in December.
Their special habitat, the $11.5-million Taylor Family Foundation Polar Bear Sanctuary, is a two-acre enclosure inside the Wild Canada Zone.
More to come …