Deceased bears

Details of various deceased captive polar bears will be added here.

• Boris (male) died in Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, Tacoma, Washinton, USA, aged 34, on 1 September 2020.
• Victor (male) died of kidney failure in Yorkshire Wildlife Park , United Kingdom on 21 August 2020.  He was 22 years old and in his life fathered 13 cubs.
• Buzz (male) died in Como Park Zoo, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA on 1 August 2020.  He was 24 years old.  The Zoo issued a statement saying that Buzz’s health declined due to suspected neurological issues and, after all treatment options were exhausted, the difficult decision to humanely euthanize him.  He is survived by his twin brother Neil.  More here.
• Yura (female) died in Ouwehands Zoo, Rhenen, Netherlands on 11 June 2020 from injuries received from her older sister Sura.  She was seven months old and is survived by her twin brother Yuka.  More here.
• Aurora (female) died in Udmurtia State Zoological Park, Izhevsk, Russia on 28 April 2020 after being transferred from Royev Ruchei Zoo, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.  She was killed by male bear Balou.  Click here to read more (opens in new window).  aurora was born in the wild, probably in 2009.
• Taiga (female) died in Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat, Ontario, Canada 21 January 2019.
• Liya (female) died in Sea World, Gold Coast, Australia 28 December 2019.
• Lyutyik (“Louie”) (male) died in Alaska Zoo 13 October 2019.
• Eli (male) born 2014 in the wild, died 15 July 2015 in Assiniboine Zoo, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  No progeny.
• Manasse (male) born 28 November 1989 in Kolmården Wildlife Park, Sweden, died 28 August 2017 in Ranua Wildlife Park, Finland.  Father of Ranzo , born 2011.
• Bärle (female) was rescued from a Mexican circus in Puerto Rico in 2002.  She was believed to have been born in the wild in Manitoba in 1984.  She arrived in Detroit Zoo on 19 November 2002 and was euthanised on 18 July 2012, suffering from lymphosarcoma.  She had one cub, Talini born in 2004.
• Blizzard (male) born in the wild 2013, died 28 January 2019 in Assiniboine Zoo, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  No progeny.
• Bora (female) born in Vienna Zoo, Austria on 20 November 1986.  She arrived in Prague Zoo, Czech Republic on 10 September 1997.  She gave birth to a cub, Berta on 2 December 2003; Berta is still in Praque Zoo.  Bora suffered a suspected stroke early in 2019. On 27 August 2019 she was found to be paralyzed on the right side of her body, probably due to a second stroke. Aged 32 she was euthanised.

• Misha was a circus polar bear rescued in 1979 and brought to live at Bristol Zoo in the UK. He died in 1992 and helped change zoos forever, becoming the centre of an international animal rights campaign because of his clearly depressed behaviour. The story of his suffering, caused as much by the circus as by his pitiful zoo enclosure, was picked up around the world and arguably became a turning point in how animals were kept in zoos.  For more click here to view a BBC video and here for an article published 7 October 2019 (both open in new windows).

Page updated 09 September 2020