Zoo hosting farewell to polar bear duo party Saturday
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/09/2023 (777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Assiniboine Park Zoo is throwing a party Saturday to say goodbye to a couple of its most popular residents.
Male polar bears Baffin and Siku are being transferred to the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo next month. Visitors will get a chance to see them off Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., when a handful of activities will be held at the Gateway to the Arctic building in Journey to Churchill.
Orphaned at less than a year old, six-year-old Baffin and seven-year-old Siku were found wandering alone in Churchill and brought to the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre at Assiniboine Park Zoo. Conservation officers brought them in because research indicates that polar bear cubs under a year old are unable to survive on their own.
Polar bear Siku (Supplied / Assiniboine Park Zoo)
“Zoo chats” will be held throughout the day by staff who worked with the ursid duo, and visitors can write a goodbye message, pick up a commemorative button, visit a selfie station or take in some enrichment activities planned for the bears.
“Baffin and Siku have been wonderful ambassadors for the polar bears of Manitoba in their time here at Assiniboine Park Zoo and it has been our privilege to care for them,” said Dr. Chris Enright, the Animal Management and Conservation’s senior director of Zoological Operations at Assiniboine Park Conservancy, in a statement. “Our staff, volunteers and visitors will miss them terribly.”
They will be moved into a newly-built exhibit at the Calgary zoo, part of $31 million redevelopment project announced in 2021. They will be the first polar bears the zoo has hosted since 1999 and will take on a new task: teaching Albertans about Churchill and the impacts of climate change.
After Baffin and Siku move out, the Zoo’s Journey to Churchill exhibit will be home to five polar bears.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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History
Updated on Thursday, September 21, 2023 2:47 PM CDT: Small edit.
Updated on Friday, September 22, 2023 8:30 AM CDT: Clarifies that Journey to Churchill exhibit will be home to five polar bears