Joburg Zoo mourns the loss of its female polar bear, Geebee

Geebee died on Sunday evening on January 12.

Manager of Veterinary Services at the Joburg Zoo, Dr Katja Koeppel said the remaining polar bear, Wang is unsettled and is in mourning on the loss of his partner 29-year old Geebee.

“Wang is pining for Geebee and is understandably very stressed. They were together for almost 30 years and developed a close bond with one another. We will be monitoring him closely and will ensure that he is kept busy by providing him with additional toys, treats and behaviour enrichment activities to try to mitigate the stress,” added Koeppel.

Koeppel said Geebee began medical treatment for diarrhoea last week.

“At first she responded well to the treatment but after a few days rejected further medication. Early Monday morning, during routine checks, we discovered that she had passed away,” she explained.

“It is suspected this is due to natural causes relative to age. At 29-years-old polar bears are considered ‘old’ for their species,” said Dr Koeppel.

Conclusive post mortem results will be available by Monday, 20 January 2014.

Geebee was born on 27 February 1985 and brought to the Joburg Zoo along with Wang in 1986.

Geebee was part of a partnership programme with Interzoo in Quebec Canada and Wang is from the Sapporo Zoo in Japan.

Kopel said since Geebee’s death Wang has displayed unusual behaviour and has been to some levels, destructive and restless.

“Anticipated loss of appetite and constant pacing in his enclosure is expected as well. Veterinary staff has assured the general public that he will be closely monitored to ensure his continued wellbeing due to his failing health as well,” she added.

“We will receive results of blood tests taken from Wang by the beginning of next week but generally, he seems to be in good health considering that he has a chronic liver ailment,” said Dr Koeppel

Wang was diagnosed in November 2010 with liver failure and has been successfully undergoing treatment ever since.

Koeppel explained that the Joburg Zoo will not be replacing Geebee. She said that despite polar bears being highly adaptive, Johannesburg’s climatic conditions are not ideal for breeding purposes.

“They adapt really well to different conditions however will not breed in warmer climates as they require low temperatures to ovulate, so from a conservation perspective replacing Geebee with another polar bear does not make sense,” she said.

“Polar bears are solitary animals and Geebee and Wang tolerated one another because they were brought in together as juveniles. Polar bears are terribly territorial, and introducing another polar bear into the enclosure may be risky,” she added.