Back in November of 1994, twin polar bears were born at the Denver Zoo. The mother rejected them, and they were therefore raised by zoo staff. They were named Klondike and Snow, and for the first few months of their lives were kept in a specially prepared nursery. Eventually, they were put on display during the day, and then taken back to their nursery in the evenings. I took the photograph on the left of them in their outdoor compound in April of 1995, when they were a little over 5 months old.
I was at the zoo that day as it was closing, and was surprised to find that when it was time for Klondike and Snow to head back to the nursery, the zookeepers simply released them from their compound and let them walk and/or run back to the nursery on their own. I guess that makes sense. At that age, I don't imagine they would try to make a break for it. By then, they must have known that dinner would be served very shortly. After all, "call me anything you like, but don't call me late for dinner" is a pretty much a well known mantra at the Denver Zoo.
Fortunately, this was 25 years ago, and I was still able to outrun baby polar bears, which is how I was able to catch up with them and take the photograph on the left. Since letting Klondike and Snow loose on the zoo grounds worked out so well back then, you would think the zoo would have let other zoo babies run free too, including baby tigers, lions, apes, whatever. But as far as I know, this practice was never repeated, which is a shame. And where are Klondike and Snow now? Seaworld Orlando. Evidently they must not have liked cold weather very much. Few polar bears do. Very understandable. Neither do I.
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