Polar bear article

Tragedy strikes Midland Zoo

Polar bears found dead in enclosure at Midland Zoo

By Nick Yanginski

            A polar bear’s death shook the Midland Zoo this morning.  Homer, a 16-year-old polar bear resident of the Midland Zoo, was found dead at 7 AM today by the staff.  While the cause of death is unknown at this hour, the zoo’s staff and director’s feelings have been made known to the public to be very mournful and disturbed by this sudden occurrence. A member of the zookeeper staff Sara Getty states,

“Homer was a very curious and playful polar bear, and we will miss him terribly”

The staff of the zoo is working to investigate the death of Homer to determine if the polar bear died of old age or other causes unknown to the veterinarians. The other two polar bears, 9-year-old male Yukon and 10-year-old Mckenzie, have been removed from the enclosure and are under monitoring by the veterinarians to make sure that they are both in good health in case whatever could have killed Homer will be avoided in them. The senior staff veterinarian Dr. Shanda Lear states,

“The zoo will perform a necropsy to try to determine the cause of death.  The results will not be available for several weeks”

The zookeepers will release details on the exact cause of death once they can find how the polar bear died and will be sure to take care of the other polar bears to make sure they stay in good health for as long as possible. The Midland Zoo has housed polar bears since 1985 and has allowed polar bears to live in a simulated environment that mimics their native land and allows them to live their days out in a natural environment they would be used to. The zoo has been known to keep these animals safe in the past. However as of lately the zoo has been in a season of mourning already with the passing of two other animals, a bobcat named Regina who died of a renal failure and a giraffe named Kenya who died of a broken neck after her horns got stuck in her stall.

With Yukon and Mckenzie under investigation and monitoring the zoo states that everyone is working to make sure that whatever happened to Homer will not happen again. The director of the zoo Chris Bacon states,

“We will do everything in our power to determine how this bear died.  Animal welfare and the preservation of species are our primary goals here at the zoo”

However, with the deaths of the other two animals in question, the director stated the other animal’s deaths were unrelated incidents. The zoo has been facing a crisis of animal deaths lately and is working on preventing any more losses in the future as much as possible. More updates in the next few weeks will be provided as the rest of the story unfolds about what happened to Homer, and Yukon and Mckenzie will continue to be monitored until further notice.