By feeding on a specially made smoothie six times a day, the polar bear cub captured at an Arctic oil field has hit a much-needed growth spurt. Affectionately known as "baby bear," "cutie pie" or "Qannik" -- which means "snowflake" in Inupiaq and is the same name given to the oil field where the bear was found -- the small cub is gaining weight at an impressive rate of about a pound per day, according to Pat Lampi, Director of the Alaska Zoo.
"We try to not get too attached to names because she's not staying here," Lampi said Friday, about a week after the nearly 4-month-old cub showed up at the zoo in a large dog kennel, stressed out and severely underweight after a day-long long journey from Alaska's North Slope to Anchorage, the state's largest city.
The Alaska Zoo doesn't have room to keep the cub, so for now it's acting as a foster parent, nurturing and doting on the bear but aware her days at the zoo are numbered.
She's in good hands. As the 45th bear cub, and the eighth polar bear cub, to arrive at the zoo in need of care in the last 25 years, the zoo's staff is no stranger to guests like "Snowflake."
"We got raising bear cubs down pretty good," said Lampi.
Polar bear cub rescued from certain death
The bundle of energy and spunk was rescued from certain death after she turned up alone at her home along the Beaufort Sea. Because polar bears are protected under the Endangered Species Act, oil field workers are required to immediately report polar bear sightings, and it is this very rule that brought the lonesome bear to the attention of wildlife officials.
Workers at a drill site on ConocoPhillips' Alpine oil field first noticed the cub when she had come out of her birthing den alongside her mother and a sibling. But then one day, for reasons unknown, the mother and twin were gone. The oil company and wildlife officials took to the skies to try to find any sign of the cub's family. After two days without spotting the mother or the other cub, it was time to make a decision: Allow the bear to stay in the wild and die, or rescue it, a move that would force the bear to live in captivity for the rest of its life.
"The thing that was most important to me initially was 'was there any chance mom is close by and any chance to reunite,'" said Rosa Meehan, Division Chief for Marine Mammals for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency that oversees management of the bears and is the agency with ultimate responsibility for cub.
Two days after the bear was captured, the mother and other cub were spotted on the sea ice 30 miles north of the birth site, Meehan said, a distance that has her confident the cub that was left behind had definitely been abandoned. Maybe a male bear interrupted the family and caused the cubs to get separated. Maybe the mother, underweight herself, couldn't care for two cubs. Maybe "Qannik" was too small to keep up. Maybe they got separated in a snow storm. There's just no way to know why the mother polar bear left one of her cubs behind, Meehan said.
Two missions underway on cub's behalf
"Getting separated is a part of nature," Meehan said, but admitted even so, this cub's situation was tough to witness.
"It's very sad," particularly with a very young, very small animal that is utterly dependant on its mother to survive, she said.
Now two missions are underway. Fatten up the bear and get her healthy, and find a perfect home for the one-time Arctic resident.
When the bear arrived at the zoo, she weighed 15 and a half pounds, Lampi said, far below normal. Scientists that had caught and tagged the bears 11 days before the cub's capture noted that all three bears seemed small and underweight. Although the same research team placed a radio collar on the mother, she managed to shuck it off almost immediately. When the cub was caught, blue dye from the tagging process was still smudged on its face, perhaps from snuggling its twin or rubbing against its mother's nuzzle. The dye is used to tattoo tracking numbers on the inside of the bears' lips, according to Bruce Woods, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage.
At her temporary home in seclusion inside a room at the zoo's new infirmary, the cub is being treated to meals made of simulated puppy milk, whipping cream, ground up salmon, polar bear nuggets -- essentially giant dog food with a recipe adjustment to accommodate the dietary needs of bears -- and cod liver oil. It's a high-fat, high-protein, high-vitamin concoction and the bear is sucking it down every four hours.
Lampi expects the current weight gain rate of about a pound a day to slow at some point to a more typical pace of about a half pound per day. His current goal is to get her to 40 pounds, maybe more, depending on how long it takes to get there and how old she is by then.
Meanwhile, news has spread fast that Alaska is looking for an adoptive home for its polar bear cub. "There has been wide interest in the disposition of this bear," Meehan said.
The USFWS has received calls from interested zoos, and Lampi said the Alaska Zoo has also received inquiries, including some from other nations. There have been calls from Canada and as far away as Germany, where callers have suggested that it would be wonderful if Alaska would send its cub to help heal hearts broken over the Berlin Zoo's recent loss of Knut, a polar bear cub born in captivity who became an instant sensation but suddenly died last month.
Polar bears reside in zoos across the nation, some, like the Denver Zoo's beloved twins, Klondike and Snow, ended up about as far away from Alaska as a bear can get. An Arctic habitat in sunny Sea World in Orlando, Fla., is where the bears now reside. Care will be taken to ensure wherever Alaska's cub winds up, it will have a quality environment, skilled caretakers mindful of keeping it mentally active, and programs to educate the public. An ideal facility must also be able to offer the young bear a buddy.
"Very young bears do best if they can socialize with another young animal. This is particularly important with a very young cub," Meehan said.
Meehan said finding another polar bear to pal around with is best. Cross-species bear relationships don't always work out over time, as the Alaska Zoo itself learned with its bears Aphun and Oreo. The polar bear and brown bear cub were housed together for several years until Oreo, a brown bear and therefore naturally more aggressive, started growing up and picking on Aphun. Eventually, the two had to be separated.
As for the orphan cub, Lampi and his staff are soaking it up while it lasts.
"She's cute as can be. A little bit on the feisty side," he said, explaining that individual bears tend to have distinct personalities.
This current cub isn't exactly thrilled with humans, less so than other bears he's dealt with, Lampi said. His theory as to why goes back to that tagging episode last month. "She's had some hard times," he said. "She got her ears pierced and got tattooed. Her first impressions of people are not the highest."
She is making progress, though, he said. If he sits long enough in her room with her she'll wander over and playfully chew at his boots, Lampi said, adding that the bear "has really changed since she's been here."
"She's getting stronger and trusting us more," he said. "They are just so animated and so busy. They are just a joy to have around."
Contact Jill Burke at jill(at)alaskadispatch.com