Edinburgh Zoo Polar Bear

For the last 25 years she has lived at Edinburgh Zoo but is to be moved to a four-acre enclosure in the Highlands, the largest of its kind in Europe. The £300,000 enclosure — that’s the size of four football pitches — will recreate the natural environment of the Bear’s Canadian home and will include a large natural swimming pool. There will also be a public viewing platform on a hill overlooking the bear’s new home.

Last week, officials from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns Edinburgh Zoo, said around £75,000 was needed to complete the enclosure at Highland Wildlife Park, near Kingussie in Inverness. They hope to raise the money through public appeals and fundraising campaigns so that Mercedes can be moved later this year.

Mercedes, named after the car company which assisted with the costs of her transport, has been in Edinburgh since 1984. She was rescued from her native Canada after she was scheduled to be shot for roaming into a nearby town in search of food. However, there has been sustained criticism of Edinburgh Zoo during Mercedes’ time in captivity. Animal rights campaigners believe the Polar Bear’s stone-built pen, around 40m in diameter with rocks, logs and a small moat, is too small, causing her anxiety and depression, which she exhibits by pacing her cage and wearing her fur and skin down by constant rubbing.

When Mercedes arrived at Edinburgh Zoo she was paired with a male polar bear called Barney. They produced two cubs, To-Nuik and Ohoto. Barney died 13 years ago. Mercedes has been on her own since then.

“It has been our intention to move Mercedes for a couple of years now,” said Iain Valentine, director of animals, conservation and education for RZSS. “She has been happy at Edinburgh Zoo and her existing enclosure is perfectly adequate, but public perception has always been that they would like to see her in a larger enclosure. Originally we had to raise £300,000 to build her a suitable enclosure at Highland Wildlife Park. Thankfully, the Army has agreed to help us build the structures required and we now only need to raise an additional £75,000. If everything goes to plan, she will be in her new Highland home by the end of the year.”

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There's that "public perception" that Gary mentioned, and as a rule it has nothing to do with facts. But it has to be dealt with, if you are going to get the fund's necessary to keep operating or to rebuild and improve. We are worrying about creating a natural life for an animal named after a car company that paid to rescue her, after she was to be shot for doing what a wild bear does naturally when encroached upon by man????? Does anyone know of an animal, that spends a large part of it's life "wet" that does not rub it's self? Purely cosmetic, causing absolutely no pain or discomfort, unless it is a girth/cinch rub on a sweaty horse. Then you use a different girth/cinch/medication and it goes away. They actually have girth's/cinch's that prevent rubbing today, so you don't lose a day or two waiting for it to heal.