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Assiniboine Park Zoo takes in another orphaned polar bear cub

Winnipeg's zoo has taken in another orphaned polar bear cub found alone in Churchill, Man. This male cub weighs around 85 lbs., which is the lightest orphan the zoo has received to date. Assiniboine Park Zoo

WINNIPEG — A second orphaned polar bear has arrived at Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Zoo within the past month.

On Friday, the one-year-old male cub arrived at the zoo’s Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre. This comes weeks after a one-year-old female orphan cub was also taken into the zoo.

READ MORE: Orphaned polar bear cub arrives at Assiniboine Park Zoo

This raises the total number of polar bears at Assiniboine Park Zoo to nine.

Manitoba conservation officers first observed the cub alone in the Churchill area. After unsuccessfully being able to connect him with other female bears, “it was clear that intervention was needed,” Laura Cabak of the Assiniboine Park Conservancy said.

Cubs of this age need to stay with their mothers for at least one winter, or through freeze up of the Western Hudson Bay, to learn how to hunt and for protection from other bears, Cabak added.

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The cub will undergo the standard 30 day quarantine period at the centre before the public can see him.

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