Orphaned Polar Bear Rescued in Alaska

In November, a lone polar bear cub was spotted roaming around Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The US Fish & Wildlife Service sent a team, with a vet from the Alaska Zoo, to check on the young male. They made the rare and difficult decision to capture the cub for his own good.

They made the tough call because “the bear was exhibiting comfort around people,” according to an FWS press release. 

You may remember the officially sanctioned murder of Freya, the 1300-pound walrus who delighted the people of Oslo this past summer until the director of fisheries decided she was a pest. 

In Alaska, they do things differently.  “Removing a bear is not a good outcome for the individual or the wild population, but we felt it was the best course of action in this situation,” said the head of the FWS’s Polar Bear program. The cub was brought to the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage where he’ll be monitored (out of public view) while the humans decide what to do with him.

The bear is 10 or 11 months old – too young to be on its own, as cubs normally spend the first two and a half years of its life with mom at their side. At 103 pounds he’s underweight for his age, and he has small lacerations on his snout, probably from the fox he was observed chomping on. Since rabies is a thing around Prudhoe Bay, the cub is now in quarantine until he gets a clean bill of health.

There are between 4,000 and 7,000 polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the Alaska wilderness (with about 25,000 worldwide). Its current conservation status is “vulnerable,” according to the IUCN.

In 2013, another male cub was orphaned in Point Lay, and was likewise cared for at the Alaska Zoo. He was eventually placed in the Saint Louis Zoo.

Photo credit: Alaska Zoo