ONE of two polar bear cubs born at Sea World on the Gold Coast last month has died.
The twins were born to 16-year-old polar bear Liya on April 26. The cub died on Saturday.
“Initial concern for the welfare of the smaller of two cubs was raised last Thursday, when it was eight days old,” Sea World’s director of marine sciences Trevor Long said.
“Of the two cubs, one was more dominant and it was considered the smaller cub was not getting enough mild or growing at a healthy rate.
“Liya had also begun to focus more of her attention towards the larger cub.
“Our ultimate aim was to give Liya every opportunity to raise both cubs, however the situation worsened on Saturday morning when it was observed Liya was no longer being attentive toward the smaller cub.”
The cub was retrieved from the den and placed in a humidity crib, given fluids and a specialised formula.
However, it passed away that evening.
Mr Long said Liya continued to display positive and confident maternal behaviours towards the one remaining cub.
“The team are continuing to carefully observe Liya and the cub 24 hours a day through state-of-the-art monitoring systems and we remain cautiously optimistic for their welfare of the cub during the extremely critical period,” he said.
It is the second time Liya has lost one of her cubs. In 2013, Henry’s twin died days after it was born when Liya also shunned it to focus on one cub.
The tiny cub died despite a daring rescue mission where animal handlers donned night vision goggles and used tongs to extract the baby girl from the pitch-black den while mum Liya was distracted.
Mr Long said everyone at SeaWorld was heartbroken by the death but acknowledged nature was often tragic.
Everyone is extremely saddened as you can imagine,” he said.
“Our staff have taken it very hard.
“But it is not uncommon in nature and it is often the case that only the fittest survive.”
In 2013, Sea World also lost a baby bear, but that cub died inside 24 hours, but Sea World staff grew increasingly optimistic this time as Liya cared for both cubs for the first eight days.
Mr Long said he hoped it was a sign that Liya was developing better parenting skills that might allow her to successfully raise two cubs in future pregnancies.
Source: Sea World Gold Coast polar bear cub dies | Perth Now
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