The Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg announced today that Debby, their beloved 42 year-old Polar Bear, died yesterday. Her veterinarian over the past 24 years, Dr Gordon Glover, made the decision to euthanise Debby when she suffered from multiple organ failure.
Regular readers of my blog will remember me mentioning Debby earlier this year after my husband and I took a photo reference trip to Winnipeg. Kevin got a couple touching photos of Debby as she rested in her enclosure:
Debby Resting: Polar Bear. Photograph, 7 x 5 in. Copyright 2008, Kevin Gates. Used with permission.
Having done a scratchboard of a Polar Bear earlier in the year, I hadn’t considered doing another soon. But I think, for Debby, I will.
