Polar bear cub takes paws as world says hello
THE first polar bear born in the UK in 25 years can be seen by the public from today – after putting on a cute show at a photoshoot.
The cub, born to mum Victoria in December, has yet to be named as keepers try to work out its sex.
Yesterday the cub followed its mother around the enclosure for 20 minutes in the sunshine at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig.
It was first captured on footage for a Channel 4 documentary – and now the public can see it up close. Douglas Richardson, head of living collections, praised the way the park is run for the birth.
He said: “This includes having very large, natural enclosures and keeping the sexes separate, which more closely mirrors the wild.
“The change in the Arctic climate coupled with more direct human pressures, is having a noticeably detrimental effect that is likely to result in many wild sub-populations disappearing.”
The last polar bear cub born in the UK was in 1992 at Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire.