9.2.2021 by Molly Merrow
Beautiful Anana, 20 years old, was killed today by her mate Nuka in the Detroit Zoo. Anana had been in Detroit for the past year, but had been denned up for the past few months. She and Nuka were reunited a week ago. Something went wrong, terribly wrong, on Monday, February 8, and he killed her.
Anana lived in the Cincinnati Zoo just before she moved to Detroit, so I went to see her quite often. She would primp and pose for the camera. She liked to play with balls, pumpkins, rollers, whatever the keepers would give her. She was a silly girl, and everybody’s favorite. She was a tiny thing, around 200 Kg, as round as the balls she loved to play with. And she was sassy.
When Anana first arrived in Cincinnati, she rebuffed the overtures of our male bear, Little One. It took a long time for her to warm up to him, but then, like a light switch flipped, she and Little One were in love. After a year of giving Little One the cold shoulder, it was time for romance. They cuddled. They swam together. They shared their treats. Little One had been slowing down before the arrival of Anana, but now he was playful, running here and there to please her.
After two seasons of breeding and no cubs, it was decided that Little One was getting too old, and another breeding season would be hard on him, so Anana was moved to Detroit, where there were two bears, one of which was a proven fertile male. Maybe she would finally have another cub. Anana had given birth to Luna in Buffalo back in 2013, but that was her only cub, and the keepers had to raise the baby because Anana was not interesting in being a mother.
The other female polar bear in Detroit, Suka, had given birth to twins in November. Anana was not pregnant, so last week, Anana was again roaming around the Arctic Ring of Life in Detroit with Nuka, and everything seemed fine. Until it wasn’t.
We may never know what went wrong. All we can do now is remember Anana for all the joy she brought us, think about the happy days we shared. Rest in peace, precious angel.
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