‘I totally cried’: Condolences after Calgary polar bear’s sudden death

A Rocky View County teacher was one of many who witnessed what may have been the final moments of a Calgary Zoo polar bear’s life on Friday.

“I totally cried when I read the news. Because we saw them and were like, we were concerned but we didn’t realize what was happening,” says Katt Hryciw.

Hryciw was visiting the zoo on Friday morning capturing moments of the two polar bears, Baffin and Siku as they played in the water inside the Taylor Family Foundation Polar Bear Sanctuary – a moment she says she’s never witnessed since they arrived in Calgary.

However, she wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

“They would kind of you know take sort of play bites with each other kind of bat at each other and they splash around a little bit and come back, and it was just really cute and then we noticed that one of them was under the water for like a while,” she says.

Hryciw says minutes passed and still seven-year-old Baffin never resurfaced. That’s when she and another park visitor alerted park staff.

According to the zoo the incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. That’s when Baffin and Siku were seen sparring – which is described as normal behaviour by the zoo – before Baffin went under the water.

“Baffin wasn’t seen for a few minutes,” says Jamie Dorgan with the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo.

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“The animal care team immediately shifted Siku the other polar bear back off of the habitat so that they could assess the situation and see what was going on. Once he was shifted and the animal care team was able to enter it was determined that unfortunately Baffin was deceased,” he added.

Baffin and Siku were orphaned when they were just one, and with their chances of survival considered low they were taken to Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg. That’s where they stayed there until coming to the Calgary Zoo just nine months ago.

In a statement to Global News, Dr. Chris Enright, senior director of Zoological Operations and Animal Management and Conservation with the Assiniboine Park Conservancy called the sudden passing of Baffin heartbreaking.

“(The Calgary Zoo) animal care, health & welfare team shared the news with us yesterday and while they are personally devastated by this loss. They also expressed their heartfelt condolences to our team, who will also mourn his passing. The polar bears who come to Assiniboine Park Zoo hold a special place in our hearts and minds. Our thoughts are with the Calgary team and all those who care about the future of polar bears and will be impacted by this tragic loss,” says Dr. Enright.

Taylor Family Foundation Polar Bear Sanctuary was closed on Saturday. Many at the zoo telling Global News they were just learning about the bear’s death, while others we’re visibly upset about the loss.

“Its super sad,” says Edmontonian Andrea Brown. “We were hoping to go to the polar bears exhibit today but we didn’t get a chance and hopefully all the other polar bears are doing ok.”

Lethbridge’s Kennedy Loman says, “We don’t normally see polar bears here (Calgary) so seeing them here its like pretty impressive but when hearing one passes away its just its sad.”

The zoo expects to have the necropsy results to determine Baffin’s cause of death on Tuesday but adds the full results could take weeks.

In a Facebook statement, the zoo says “the Animal Care, Health & Wellness team will be closely monitoring” Baffin’s long-time habitat mate, Siku.

“I hope that people don’t take it out on the zoo,” says Hryciw.

“I know that they really focus on conservation and a lot of people say ‘oh these huge animals shouldn’t be there’ but as orphaned cubs I mean they wouldn’t have survived if they hadn’t been taken into care,” she concluded.

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