The UK’s oldest polar bear, and the first in the country to give birth to a cub in 25 years, has been put down because of age-related health problems.
Victoria was 28 and had been kept in Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands since 2015. Vets at the park took the decision to euthanise her on Tuesday morning after an assessment about her quality of life and wellbeing. Since December she had been receiving geriatric care after showing signs of arthritis.
Victoria initially responded well to medication, but was put to sleep after a deterioration in her health. In the wild polar bears rarely live beyond the age of 18, but can live for longer in captivity.
Debby, believed to be world’s oldest polar bear, died in 2008 aged 41 or 42, after living almost all of her life in Assiniboine Park zoo in Winnipeg, Canada.
Victoria was born at Rostock zoo in Germany in December 1996 and first gave birth in 2008 at Aalborg zoo in Denmark to a female named Malik.
In 2015 she was move moved to the Highlands park, run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). Two years later she gave birth to Hamish, who according to the RZSS, was the first polar cub born in the UK since 1990. In 2021 she gave birth to another cub called Brodie.
David Field, the chief executive of RZSS, said: “Victoria was an excellent mother and seeing her bring up two big, healthy boys has been a joy for our charity’s dedicated teams and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have flocked to see the family and learn more about the threats these amazing animals face in the wild.”
The charity said Victoria had left an “incredible legacy” through her cubs, who continued to play an essential role in the European breeding programme. It said the initiative aimed to promote a genetically diverse population of polar bears in captivity.
