Environment

Death of a polar bear and a tiger cub

by Amy Judd | November 18, 2008 at 11:30 am

295 views | 7 Recommendations | 3 comments

The world's oldest polar bear has died. Debby, who was 42, and lived at Assiniboine Park Zoo had to be euthanized due to ill health. She was surrounded by her carers and veterinarians.

She was euthanized within hours of a vet exam Monday that discovered the ailing bear had suffered multiple organ failure.

Up until Monday, Debby was described as being "alert and active."

Her loss marks the end of an era for the zoo.

"Debby was without a doubt the most famous animal in the Assiniboine Park Zoo's history. Her uncanny ability to strike magnificent and charming poses resulted in her being featured in countless photographs, films and media stories. She will be missed," zoo coordinator Dr. Gordon Glover said in a prepared statement.

Also, the tiger cub, Juhi, that was attacked by villagers and received a rare blood transfusion in India has died. He did show signs of improvement, but then went into convulsions and died.

The blood transfusion is believed to be the first carried out on a tiger in India and was done after its haemoglobin dropped to "dangerously low" levels.

The eight-month-old cub was named Juhi after a fragrant white flower native to India.

Juhi's sister, Jai, is doing better however, but it is likely she will not be able to return to the wild.

Mr Majumdar said that the death of the cub was a "sad moment".

"We have lost the battle," he told the Associated Press news agency. "She got convulsions this morning [Tuesday] and we tried our best to save her.

"But she stopped breathing and that's how the end came."

Juhi and Jai were found near the Tadoba tiger reserve as they were being chased by villagers who wanted to kill them because they feared the animals would attack children and cattle.

There are only about 1,500 tigers left in the wild in India, which is down from about 3,600 six years ago.

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KimmieB17 (not verified)

at 19:14 on November 18th, 2008

Those people who attacked a 7 month old tiger should rot in hell!! I guess it shows how ignorant and selfish people are. If they were smart enough they should of figured out a way to get the tiger out of the village and into a safe place far away from where they live. Animals have just as much right to live and rome the earth then us.

Amy Judd

at 19:17 on November 18th, 2008

I agree that animals have the same right to be here we do. It's bad enough that they keep losing their habitat because humans keep developing all the land they can lay their hands on, but when the animal comes back and finds their land gone, they end up dead. Very sad.