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Zoo News
Walker explores his new polar bear pad
9 November 2010 - Just four days after setting foot on Highland soil, Walker the polar bear will be given the opportunity to explore his new four acre polar bear pad at the Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie today.
Since his arrival in the Highlands, Walker has been kept in his holding pen under the watchful eye of his keepers to give him time to settle in to his new surroundings. He has adapted very quickly and will now be released into the four acre main enclosure where he will be able to explore the tundra-like environment for the first time.
Douglas Richardson, Animal Collection manager at the Highland Wildlife Park said,
‘We are really pleased with Walker’s progress so far and he has quickly settled into his holding pen and extension. As a young bear, he is very inquisitive and eager to explore, so giving him access to the main enclosure and the pool as soon as possible is very important.
‘In order to give Walker the opportunity to initially explore his new home alone, for the last few days we have been giving him access to the extension during the day, whilst Mercedes has access to the bear tunnel and the extension at night. This enables the bears to get used to moving around different areas of the facility so we can manage them separately whilst they continue to get acquainted.’
And so far the introduction of the UK’s only polar bears has been going well.
Douglas continues,
‘Mercedes is very aware of anything new that happens in or around her enclosure, so she has
already shown an interest in Walker. She came down to the holding pen to meet him on his first day
and now occasionally makes the trip down the hill from her sleeping spot to see what he is getting
up to – and to make sure he is behaving himself!
‘Walker was very wary of Mercedes at first but you can see him growing in confidence as he gets used to his new surroundings, so we hope to give the pair a proper introduction soon.’
For further info and images
High and low res images of Walker’s arrival are available. Please go to www.aaronsneddon.co.uk/rzss-projects.html. If you have any issues with the online gallery please contact media@aaronsneddon.co.uk 07796345863 or contact me.
Michaela Crosthwaite, Press Officer:
mcrosthwaite@rzss.org.uk
0131 314 0312
07889 116 517
EDITOR'S NOTES
About Walker
• Walker, who is named after a type of train, was born in Rhenen Zoo in Holland on 7
December 2008. He was moved to the Highland Wildlife Park on Thursday 4 November after his mother,
Huggies, became pregnant with another litter and needed to retire to her cubbing den.
• RZSS was initially contacted in September by Rhenen Zoo and the coordinator for the
polar bear European Endangered Species Programme (EEP). The polar bear EEP coordinates the movement
of animals around European zoo collections as part of the breeding programme, and these moves are
largely based on the quality of the enclosures. Having one of the largest polar bear enclosures in
the world, the Highland Wildlife Park was top of the list for his new home and Walker is now the
second polar bear in a public collection in the UK.
• For the next two to three years Walker will live with Mercedes in the current polar
bear enclosure, but when he nears sexual maturity he will be moved to a new enclosure on the other
side of the park and will be our future breeding male.
• Like Mercedes, Walker will have a comprehensive and constantly evolving enrichment
programme to stimulate him. He will also be trained by the keepers to allow simple health and
weight checks, without the need for anesthesia.
About Mercedes
• Mercedes, who until Walker arrived was the only polar bear in a UK zoo, had been resident
at Edinburgh Zoo from 1984 until 2009, when she moved to the Highland Wildlife Park. She was
rescued from her native Canada after she was scheduled to be shot. Unfortunately she began roaming
into a nearby town in search of food and, as they are dangerous animals, this behaviour had to be
discouraged. Initially, she was captured and the number ‘39’ was painted on her coat which allowed
her to be tracked. On her third visit the decision was made to shoot her. Luckily, she was rescued
and RZSS offered her a home at Edinburgh Zoo.
• It was one of RZSS’s life members who helped rescue Mercedes from Canada. She enlisted
the help of her cousin, a former Minister of Fisheries in Canada, to find a new home for her.
• When Mercedes arrived at Edinburgh Zoo she was paired with a male polar bear called
Barney. They produced two cubs, To-Nuik and Ohoto. Barney passed away 13 years ago, since then
Mercedes has been on her own.
RZSS future polar bear plans
• RZSS announced plans last year to keep polar bears in its animal collection at the
Highland Wildlife Park for the foreseeable future and, in the long term, to contribute to the
conservation and understanding of this increasingly threatened species.
• It was originally planned that Mercedes would remain on her own until she dies, but as
full participants of the European Polar Bear Breeding Programme, we have had to review our original
intention and timeline following Walker’s special case.
• Walker will not reach sexual maturity for at least another three years, in which time
a new polar bear enclosure will have been built at the Highland Wildlife Park for him to be
transferred to.
• A new female will be designated in the future for the Park and placed in the existing
enclosure, but not until Mercedes dies. The two bears will be brought together for the breeding
season only, which replicates their natural behaviour in the wild, in the hope that they will
produce cubs.
• For several years, the polar bear has not figured as a focus species for RZSS, other
than ensuring that Mercedes got the best level of care we could offer. Unfortunately, due to the
accelerated rate of climate change in the Arctic, the polar bear population in the wild is now
perched on the edge of a precipitous decline.
• Polar bear field biologists affiliated with the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have suggested that the captive population of polar bears in
well-managed zoos may indeed have a key role to play and that an active partnership between the
field and zoo communities could benefit the species.
About Highland Wildlife Park
• The Highland Wildlife Park is owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland which
also owns Edinburgh Zoo.
• RZSS was founded by visionary lawyer Thomas Gillespie. The Society was set up in 1909 ‘
to promote, facilitate and encourage the study of zoology and kindred subjects and to foster and
develop amongst the people an interest in and knowledge of animal life’.
• The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is a registered charity, charity no
SC004064.
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