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Mercedes
Douglas Richardson
Animal Collection Manager
RZSS, Highland Wildlife Park 15 April 2011
Given the high profile that
Mercedes the polar bear has had both in Scotland and
internationally, we felt that her many admirers deserved
to be informed that it was with a great deal of sadness
that early this morning, April 15 2011, Mercedes was
put painlessly to sleep due to age related health problems
and a rapid deterioration in her welfare.
Mercedes was born in the wild
in the western Hudson Bay region of Manitoba Canada
in late 1980 or 1981. When she naturally separated from
her wild mother, she developed the habit of wandering
into the local town of Churchill looking for food and
needed to be captured and moved a good distance in an
effort to curtail her "shopping sprees". The polar bear
policy in Churchill, also known as the polar bear capital
of the world, was three strikes and you're out. Twice
she had been caught and moved out of town and a third
offence would result in her being shot due to the risks
she presented to the townspeople. Luckily a concerned
member of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland with
Canadian connections helped save Mercedes from certain
death and, following her third offence, she was caught
and moved to Edinburgh Zoo on 19 January 1984. Whilst
at Edinburgh she reared 2 cubs: Minty, a male, born
on 18 November 1988, and Ohoto, a female, born 15 November
1991. Both were sired by her partner Barney, who was
born at Whipsnade Zoo, but he died on 19 November 1996.
After Barney's death, Mercedes lived by herself at Edinburgh
Zoo; a solitary lifestyle, especially for an adult female
polar bear, is normal as they are not overly social
creatures.
In late 2008/early
2009, the decision was finalised to move her to a new,
much larger enclosure at Edinburgh's sister zoo, the
Highland Wildlife Park. Using a radical new enclosure
design, we were able to construct a very large area
for Mercedes' retirement at the Park, although there
was some concern over how she would react to the wide
open space in the Highlands. Mercedes moved into her
new, large, natural enclosure at the Highland Wildlife
Park on 19 October 2009. Her arrival generated unprecedented
media and public interest. When she was released into
the new enclosure she quickly adapted to her bigger,
softer surroundings and she particularly relished the
deep snow and iced-over pond in the winter. Because
of the size and natural complexity of our facility,
the European breeding programme coordinator for polar
bears asked us if we could take the 2 year old male
Walker from Rhenen Zoo in Holland. Walker needed to
be moved due to the pending birth of cubs from his aunt.
Although Walker was at the age where he needed to be
separated from his mother, we felt confident that he
would be respectful of the much older Mercedes and not
present her with a problem; Walker arrived on 5 November
2010. From the time we first mixed the 2 polar bears
together, it was clear that Walker wanted to play, but
Mercedes was having none of it and rebuffed all of his
attempts at contact. Luckily the enclosure is large
enough that the bears could keep well apart from each
other and we provided Walker with a wide range of suitable
polar bear toys and this left Mercedes to carry on with
her more sedate routine.
Because Mercedes was
at the upper end of the captive polar bear age scale,
about 29-30 years old (wild polar bears rarely make
it to their mid-20s), we have been routinely monitoring
her health and particularly her level of mobility; older
bears are very prone to developing quite pronounced
arthritis. We thought that she was getting a bit slower,
which was to be expected, but the arrival of the boisterous
Walker really demonstrated the difference in the bears.
We have had Mercedes on a carefully planned course of
medication to ease any likely joint problems, and we
had seen a bit of an improvement in her condition. She
was monitored daily by her keepers and weekly by our
vet. More recently we noted a marked and rapid downturn
in her behaviour and her demeanour, and she appeared
to be aging very rapidly and possibly showing signs
of senility. We had been keeping her separate from the
male bear so as to avoid any possibility of him causing
her to move more than she wanted to. Recently, all of
the individuals responsible for her care sadly concluded
that our only remaining option was to put her to sleep
on age and health grounds.
Simon Girling, RZSS
head of veterinary services says of Mercedes' condition,
"We have been monitoring Mercedes' condition for some
time now and have tried a number of different therapies
for her advanced arthritis, which we were having some
success with. However, even on medication, Mercedes
has now taken a significant turn for the worse in terms
of her mobility and is also showing signs of mental
confusion. This deterioration in her welfare has prompted
us to step in and humanely euthanase her." In addition,
Jane Harley, the Highland Wildlife Park's local veterinary
consultant has a similar opinion, "Mercedes has shown
a marked deterioration in her condition over the last
week. She has signs of severe pain from arthritic joints
that the medication no longer appears to be controlling.
She also appears to be showing signs of "old age senility"
which is causing her confusion and distress. This has
been a difficult decision for everyone who has been
involved with Mercedes, but is the right decision for
a very special bear." She will undergo a very thorough
post mortem examination so that we can learn more about
her condition and this will help provide more information
on how we deal with geriatric bears in the future. One
of Mercedes' most significant contributions to the future
welfare of polar and other bear species was in successfully
"test-driving" our new enclosure design as it is one
that is relatively cheap to construct and this low cost
means that much larger bear enclosures can be built
in zoological collections which results in better bear
welfare. It goes without saying that Mercedes will be
greatly missed by those who cared for her and by her
many admirers. |
