A polar bear cub at a Highland zoo was left searching for its mother after she was put down.
Brodie has been left bereft by the death of mother, Victoria, who was Britain’s oldest polar bear until she was euthanised on Tuesday because of age-related health problems.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said the 28-year-old bear had been receiving geriatric care at the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore.
Judith Bowman, the carnivore team leader at Highland Wildlife Park, said the animal’s three-year-old son “was searching for her yesterday and calling for her – chuffing, which is a friendly noise between polar bears that we know”.
“He was definitely searching for her. This morning when we checked on him he was tired – so he’s definitely spent some time – but he was content enough to take food from us and he seemed all right. He’s going to need some time to adapt, but he’ll be OK.
“He’d been brought up with his mum, although in the wild polar bears tend to leave their mums around the age of two-and-a-half, so it’s not an unnatural occurrence for him to be on his own now.”
The wildlife conservation charity’s vets advised that Victoria should be put down after taking her quality of life and well-being into account. There are now 15 other polar bears at zoos in Britain.
Mrs Bowman said Victoria was treated to a special diet in the days before her death.
“In recent days she was treated with some extra tasty things that she liked that weren’t necessarily on her diet any more – tinned sardines, which she loved,” she said. “And we added some jam and honey which she really loves but which were not normally on her diet.”
“Victoria was in her 29th year, which is the equivalent to a person being in their 90s, and her health had been deteriorating.
“We’d been monitoring her for a long time and had been giving her pain relief. We had been keeping her comfortable, but there is only so much comfort you can give her.
“We care a lot about our animals and everyone is feeling it. It’s a very sad day and the keepers are all affected by it, but we are also very aware of why the choice was made.”
Victoria was born at Rostock Zoo in Germany in December 1996 and first gave birth in 2008 at Aalborg Zoo in Denmark to a female named Malik.
In 2015, Victoria moved to the Highland Wildlife Park and gave birth to two male bears, Hamish in 2017 and Brodie in 2021.
David Field, the RZSS chief executive, said: “Victoria was an excellent mother and seeing her bring up two big, healthy boys has been a joy for our charity’s dedicated teams and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have flocked to see the family and learn more about the threats these amazing animals face in the wild.”
The RZSS said that in the wild only a small percentage of polar bears live past 18 and described Victoria’s age as “testament to the world-class care she received from her keepers and veterinary team.”