Assiniboine Park Zoo polar bear dies during dental procedure
A female polar bear living at Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg has died during a dental procedure while under anesthesia.
The zoo confirmed that nine-year-old polar bear Aurora died on Tuesday.
“It’s always very sad when we lose animals at the zoo and in this particular case, it was even more challenging under the circumstances that she passed away,” said Grant Furniss, the zoo’s senior director of zoological operations.
According to the zoo, Aurora experienced recurring dental issues since she was rescued and transferred to the zoo as a cub in 2013. She was initially found wandering around the Churchill Airport alone when she was about a year old.
The zoo said it believes her teeth were damaged from eating rocks and sticks in an attempt to survive without her mother.
According to Furniss, Aurora had several dental procedures previously to relieve her pain, treat infection and prevent her tooth problems from evolving into life-threatening issues.
Tuesday’s procedure was performed under anesthesia and with the assistance of a specialized veterinary dentist, the zoo said.
Assiniboine Park Zoo's senior director of zoological operations Grant Furniss confirmed details of Aurora's death at a news conference Thursday.
According to the zoo, the procedure went well but as the team was preparing to reverse the anesthesia, Aurora went into cardiac arrest.
“The veterinary team did absolutely everything they could to bring her back but unfortunately, she passed away,” Furniss said.
Furniss said while further testing will be done, preliminary investigations into an underlying condition or cause of death are inconclusive.
“We will pursue it and try to find out exactly what happened to Aurora,” Furniss said.
The zoo said Aurora was an assertive, strong-willed bear who could often be spotted snuggling and spending her time with Kaska, another female bear, and took a protective role with Willow, the zoo’s youngest female cub.
“Aurora was a very loved bear, and she brought joy to so many hundreds of thousands of people who came in and out of the zoo,” Furniss said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.