Polar bear 'Baffin' dies at Calgary Zoo after not resurfacing from pool

A polar bear died in its enclosure at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo on Friday.

Around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, the zoo’s two polar bears, Baffin and Siku, were seen sparring in their pool, which the zoo noted as a normal behaviour for the bears.

Zoo staff noticed however that Baffin had not surfaced from the pool and had not been seen for a few minutes.

Siku was shifted out of the enclosure and the zoo’s animal care team went in to assess Baffin. Staff determined Baffin was dead in the pool.

The bear was removed from the pool and sent off for a necropsy, to learn what caused his death.

The two bears arrived at the Calgary Zoo in October 2023. Baffin was seven years old.

“It’s obviously a huge shock today for our staff and volunteers to learn of this incredibly surprising situation,” Jamie Dorgan, interim chief executive officer and chief operating officer, said during a press conference Friday.

“We’re doing everything we can to support the teams who are of course family with the polar bears as well.”

Dorgan said the zoo veterinarians will be looking at every possible cause of death. After a quick assessment, the vets did not notice anything outwardly obvious that gave them an indication of Baffin’s cause of death.

“We know that the bears were playing like normal in the pool, sparring like they do, and then one of our volunteers noticed that she only saw one bear, after seeing both of them for a while, and then immediately called our animal care team,” he said.

The necropsy could take weeks to months if the cause of death is not immediately obvious. 

Zoo staff are keeping a close eye on Siku – the other polar bear – due to the surprising nature of Baffin’s death.

Zoocheck, "a Canadian-based international wildlife protection charity," expressed concern over the death:

"We are certainly concerned that polar bears went back into the Calgary Zoo at all because they are among the worst candidates for captivity but this, from my understanding, is a fairly young animal, so I am very concerned about the death of the animal. It seems quite suspicious. I'm hopeful it wasn't something in the environment," said Julie Woodyer, campaigns director for Zoocheck.