Debby the Polar Bear: Worlds Oldest Polar Bear Dies

RIP Debby the Polar Bear. 1966-2008.

42-year-old bear called Debby, the worlds oldest known polar bear, has died.

The Canadian zoo where Debby lived announced the death. Debby the Polar Bear lived at a Zoo in Winnipeg since 1967. Debby was captured as a orphaned cub in the Russian Arctic in 1966.

Polar bears are an endagured speices, with ice melt in thier native Arctic rapidly increasing with the rise in global temperatures due to man made Global Warming.

"Debby was a great bear," said Jos Gatien, the zoo's senior bear keeper who worked with Debby for 13 years. "She acted like a grumpy old bear a lot of times. It was great. She had a lot of life in her, a lot of feistiness."

Via The Canadian Press.

Gordon Glover, the zoo's co-ordinator, said her keepers were able to control the strokes with medication for the last two years but Debby started to deteriorate this summer. She stopped eating her normal diet of salty, savoury food, preferring sweets and Popsicles.

Debby lost her appetite completely over the weekend and had difficulty getting up Monday morning, Glover said. After running a number of tests, zoo officials decided to put her down. She died surrounded by her keepers and friends.

"Pretty much all the zoo-keeping staff was there," Glover said, choking back tears.
"It was very difficult. Debby has been a long-time member here at the zoo. She's been here longer than any of the employees. Everybody that works here has got to know her very well."