Cochrane, Ontario

Bisitek

Bisitek was one of the most kind-spirited bears we have ever come across. She had such love for life; it’s hard to believe that such a calm temperament could come from a 600-pound polar bear. Bisitek spent 27 years of her life in the care of the Toronto Zoo. She was transferred to us in August 2007 to spend the rest of her days until her passing in February of 2010.

The zoo was modifying their old polar bear exhibit and Bisi was the only remaining polar bear and so she was brought here. It was decided early on that the Habitat would be Bisi’s new permanent/retirement home. We knew that it would be a challenge to help her get used to her new home with us. We slowly introduced Bisi to her new outdoor enclosures and surroundings, followed by new kinds of foods, and finally enrichment devices. We found out right from the beginning that Bisi absolutely loved grass and ate some at times almost all day! She adjusted very well to her new surroundings within months, meaning she loved her new home.

During her first winter with us, she actually dug a den for the first time in all of her 27 years of life! It was a special moment both for Bisi and the animal care staff; to have witnessed such behavior in captivity is truly wonderful and a real learning experience.

It took a while for Bisi to start liking moose meat. When we first introduced it to her, she looked at us almost in disgust probably saying “What is that? You want me to eat this? No way!”. It took her a year before she actually started taking bites from the meat, and she eventually loved it so much that it was all she that she wanted to eat for a while.

Bisitek was an extremely laid back bear; she took life one day at a time with hardly any stress. She was incredibly calm and we never saw any type of aggression from her towards anyone or any of the other bears. She was as sweet as you can get. Since Bisi was an older bear she didn’t have as much of a playful behavior as the younger ones, but we set on a quest to try and find her something she would enjoy playing with. We painted a big hard plastic ball toy orange and purple. Bisi went nuts with the ball when she saw it, splashing it around in the pool, holding it with her paws, biting it and most importantly swimming on her back holding it! We had never seen Bisi love a toy so much and that was the only time we ever saw her swim on her back like that. She also developed a liking for red construction cones. One morning we came in to work and discovered Bisi had completely torn apart a red cone into pieces. We are guessing she had a fun and busy night! Another funny thing that Bisi did was gather up all the big sauna tubes we gave her. They were stuffed with her favorite treats/food items and many were scattered all around the enclosure. She would pick up the smaller ones and bring them closer to the big ones, eventually making a pile of tubes then she would start eating her food. She was the only bear here at the facility who thought of gathering all of her tubes like this.

Bisi was a real thinker, she always thought things through before taking any action and she was very smart about it.  Every situation that Bisi was put into she faced head on and never held back a second. She was a very determined bear, when she had something in mind she wouldn’t stop doing what she did until she succeeded. Bisi was always very curious and friendly. Every time we approached her room or enclosure she would always come over to greet us, whether we had a treat for her or not. She always wanted to know what was going on around her and we tried to include her in everything we did because she liked it, she liked a lot of attention. Something that we have never been able to do with any polar bear here at the Habitat is feed them with a spoon. We discovered that Bisi was different; she absolutely loved it when we gave her food with a spoon. She would lick all her food off and not attempt to bite the spoon at all, and at times she even preferred to be given her food that way instead of on the ground! She was a very spoiled bear and she deserved it all. She brought smiles to everyone’s faces with her little goofy personality at times. She is immensely missed by all the animal care staff and we think she has the best seat up in polar bear heaven.   


Aurora and Nakita (The Girls)

Nakita and Aurora are twin polar bear females rescued from the wild in December of 2000. They were rescued by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and hand reared at the Toronto Zoo, where they lived until they were old enough to be sent to another captive facility.

In their previous facility, Nakita appeared to be more dominant than Aurora and so it was assumed that she was the braver, the more advanced for her age. However appearances can be deceiving in the world of bears. The more dominant, aggressive bear is often the more fearful individual. A good defence is a good offence! The fearful, wary nature surfaces under new circumstances and this is what happened when the girls moved to Cochrane.

Both caught on quickly that life was worth living at the Habitat. Aurora was the one who immediately blossomed into Ms. Personality, mugging for attention from anyone who came into the building. Nakita craved attention of her keepers but held back in new situations letting Aurora take the chances. Since those first months Nakita and Aurora have taken being assertive and shy depending on the circumstances.
On the first day the girls were given access to their new outside enclosure, it was Aurora who came out of the door first. Aurora was careful to have a quick look around the enclosure from the doorway but then she walked out and explored. She found the pool at the other end of the enclosure and jumped in with a big bear belly flop from the very top of the rock pile. Yup, life was good
Nakita stood tentatively in the doorway looking out. She was a little nervous. She had lost sight of Aurora and the yard seemed very big. Nakita caught sight of the Zookeeper calling to her from the fence line to come to her. Nakita gained a little confidence seeing a trusted keeper.

After 5 years at the habitat, Nakita and Aurora returned to their newly renovated home at the Toronto Zoo to meet their new keepers and mate Inuksuk.  With the help of their keepers they were transported in large crates on an 8hr journey to a new beginning.  Nakita and Aurora will be missed by all here at the habitat.