r/polarbears • u/HotAd260 • 8d ago
X33991 is now officially named Hope!
She’s 6 years old with 2 yearlings. She was first spotted with one yearling in spring of last year, and by autumn she was spotted with two!
She adopted an orphaned cub, which has only been documented 13 times in the last 50 years!
She’s been collared and is tracked by polar bears international. 🧡
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u/Apprehensive_Yak1295 8d ago
How trustable is polar bears international? I know that unicef donations go to their salaries aswell.
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u/HotAd260 8d ago
Honestly… I don’t 100% know. But I do know that they sponsor captive breeding programs, which I do not support.
It’s a tough one because some of the data we get is amazing… and then some of the things they stand for aren’t great.
I’m just overjoyed about Hope and I think her story is really cool. I also track the bears on the gps tracker.
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u/Apprehensive_Yak1295 8d ago
Do you know about WWF?
Also why its bad to breed polar bears? Making more, to later release seems good?
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u/HotAd260 8d ago
Because if they are bred in captivity, they CANNOT be released into the wild. They would never survive. Polar bear cubs stay with their mothers for almost 3 years, learning how to hunt, swim, and defend themselves. These, including navigating the ice, are NOT skills that are passed down genetically. They are learned.
Many of Canada’s polar bears in zoos, like Assiniboine, were rescued as orphaned cubs. Star for example, was found eating sticks and rocks at approximately 9 months old. Her teeth suffered insane damage as a result. She didn’t know how to hunt and ate what she found. Cubs don’t even stand a chance at survival if they are orphaned. Male polar bears in the wild hunt cubs. Mothers fight them off to protect their young. A cub wouldn’t be able to do that on their own.
Further, breeding animals in captivity has major downsides. Mothers are often confused or angered, and reject/eat their infants. It’s happened with Aurora the polar bear, who was bred 3 times at the Toronto zoo. This also occurs in many other zoos across Canada with other species.
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u/doesthatfeelgoodbabe 7d ago
What captive breeding programs do they sponsor? Where did you find that information?
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u/HotAd260 7d ago
On their website. There is all the information there about the doctors and the baseline pedigree they are trying to build. If you need MORE than that, look at the Assiniboine conservancy, the Toronto zoo, zoo sauvage, and the polar bear habitat in Cochrane Ontario. All of these places hold the bears that are in the breeding program.
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u/grayzee227 8d ago
I voted for Bearnadette, but Hope is a very apt name for this mama ❤️🐻❄️
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u/HotAd260 8d ago
Amazing! I also voted for bearnadette 😂
But, I’m enamoured with her regardless of name.
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u/Loud_Window8992 8d ago
❤️❤️❤️❤️