Polar bear in Canadian zoo drowned after rough play with fellow bear, necropsy finds

A necropsy has shown that a polar bear who died after rough play with a fellow bear in a zoo in western Canada drowned after his throat was crushed. The male bears Baffin and Siku were roughhousing in a pond in front of visitors to the Calgary Zoo on Friday morning when Baffin submerged and didn’t resurface. An examination revealed Siku’s bite didn’t pierce Baffin’s skin but was hard enough and in just the right place to crush his trachea. The zoo's senior veterinarian said the roughhousing was typically play for male polar bears but the bite was “tragically misplaced.” Zoo staff couldn’t have done anything to prevent the death.