Farewell Mercedes, you very special bear

MERCEDES, the much-loved polar bear who was the undisputed queen of the Highland Wildlife Park, was put to sleep yesterday morning at the grand old age of 30.

Born in the wild in northern Canada, Mercedes lived for 25 years at Edinburgh Zoo before being moved two years ago to a bigger enclosure at the wildlife park near Kingussie.

The Zoological Society plans to mount a permanent memorial to Mercedes, who was joined at the enclosure last year by Walker, a male cub from a zoo in Holland.

Douglas Richardson, animal collection manager at the wildlife park, said: "It is very sad, but all the vets and keepers came to the decision that this was our only and best option.

"Over the last week and a half, there was a real downturn in her general attitude. She was losing co-ordination, shaking; she didn't look like herself."

Yesterday the website of the Royal Zoological Society published an obituary with the heading: 'Ursus Maritimus. Mercedes: A very special bear.'

Douglas Richardson said: "She had a huge number of admirers. Some had visited her in Edinburgh Zoo and then started coming up to see her here.

"You do become attached to the animals and she was a real character, really nice and easy-going for a polar bear."

Mercedes' move to the more spacious surroundings of the Highland Wildlife Park attracted an unprecedented wave of publicity, particularly because since 2003 she had been the only polar bear in the UK.

Her keepers knew Mercedes was suffering from osteoarthritis which made walking painful, but they believe she also had age-related dementia. At 30, she was considerably older than her counterparts in the wild who live to 15-18 years.

Jane Harley, the Highland Wildlife Park's local veterinary consultant, said: "Mercedes had shown a marked deterioration in her condition over the last week. She had signs of severe pain from arthritic joints.

"She also appeared to be showing signs of old age senility which was causing her confusion and distress.

"This has been a difficult decision for everyone who has been involved with Mercedes, but is the right decision for a very special bear."

Although animal rights activists once argued there was no place for polar bears in zoos, by the time Mercedes moved to the wildlife park in 2009, environmentalists were saying that the dwindling population in the wild meant keeping animals in captivity had become necessary.

Mr Richardson said: "We are talking about a sea change in approach. What we thought of as an appropriate enclosure at the time Mercedes arrived in the 1980s would not be acceptable now.

"Climate change is already having an effect on the wild polar bear population. There is a possibility that having a population in captivity may well play a significant role in how we maintain the population in the wild."

The Highland Wildlife Park now plans to find a female mate for Walker, who will probably come from a European Zoo.

From raiding rubbish bins in Canada to wowing crowds in Edinburgh and Kingussie

SHE may have spent most of her life in captivity - but in some ways Mercedes the Polar Bear was lucky to be alive.

When she was three, Mercedes was condemned to death by the authorities in Churchill Canada - the polar bear capital of the world.

The town had a "three strikes and you're out" policy for polar bears caught raiding the rubbish dump - and Mercedes, marked with a big red cross, got caught once too often.

She was saved by Edinburgh Zoo - and by the Mercedes car company - which gave her their name and sponsored her journey to her new home in the capital.

Mercedes lived in a tiny concrete cell at Edinburgh Zoo for 25 years. It was here she and her partner Barney reared two cubs, Minty, a male, born on 18 November 1988, and Ohoto, a female, born 15 November 1991.

It was also where Barney died in 1996 - after choking on a plastic bat thrown into the enclosure.

Mercedes was left the only one of her kind in the UK and her plight caught the public's imagination to such an extent that she was moved to a far more spacious home at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie.

Finally Mercedes had room to gambol, swim and play in the snow.

Her keepers said the solitary life was in keeping with the way an elderly female would live in the wild.

With the arrival of Walker, in November 2010, Mercedes was no longer alone - but keepers said while she tolerated the new arrival she was too old and tired to play.