12.7.2023 – Source: Karlsruhe Zoo, Photos by Rebecca Roth
An old acquaintance has returned to Karlsruhe. For the past three years he has been at the Hagenbeck Zoo and Tropical Aquarium and successfully bred with the female Victoria who lives there. In the medium term, Kap will also provide for offspring in Karlsruhe.
Rebecca loves this gentle polar bear male so she visited him as soon as possible on the 6th of July.
This place seems very familiar!
Green green grass of home
“With him, we have one of the most genetically valuable polar bears with us. His lineage is not represented anywhere in Hamburg except for the current cub. He is enormously important for the conservation breeding of this species,” explains Zoo Director Dr Matthias Reinschmidt. However, this would require another exchange within the framework of the European Conservation Breeding Programme (EEP), as the female Charlotte currently living in Karlsruhe is not intended for breeding.
Kap was born in Moscow on 16 October 2000 and came to Karlsruhe for three years in 2001. For a long time he then lived in Tierpark Neumünster. “Through a fertility test and the current offspring in Hamburg, we know that he can reproduce. Karlsruhe was already very successful in polar bear breeding in the past, and we would like to pick up where we left off,” says Reinschmidt.
Kap was brought from the Hanseatic city to Karlsruhe Zoo today with a special transport. After arriving in the evening, he was able to leave his special transport crate and spent his first night in the indoor enclosure.
“He is a relaxed animal with a good character. We are happy that he is back,” emphasises zoo keeper Moritz Ehlers.
Kap has smelled something ….
… and he’s very curious to know where the smell comes from.
It’s good to be back home again!
Kap sure looks very happy!
Dear Rebecca and Mervi
I am so pleased to see Kap safely home. I visited him in Hamburg in September 2020 and he looked relaxed but the enclosure there has no grass.
Dear Rebecca and Mervi!
I am very happy that Kap is back in Karlsruhe! You can clearly see that he has had – to put it mildly – an exhausting time and I hope that he recovers quickly and completely.
A friend who visited him wrote to me that Kap had to stay in the outdoor area at Hagenbeck for a long time, day and night, because the indoor area was occupied by Viktoria and her daughter. During this time, the outdoor area could not be kept in order, the windows could not be cleaned and the water could not be changed. This explains why Kap still looks so dirty, even though he has certainly bathed several times by now.
A dirty bear is not always a happy bear…!
Hugs
Anke
Welcome back in Karlsruhe dear Kap!
After all the less pleasant things we have heard from Hagenbeck in the context of Kap’s reproductive tasks in Hamburg, this today is
wonderful news.
Male polar bears in particular need a really thick skin to survive the
bear tourism reasonably well.
Let’s hope this will now be his permanent home!
HE is a good looking bear and the dirt from Hamburg will soon be washed out.
Thank you Rebecca for your report and best wishes!
Britta-Gudrun
Da ich Kap desöfteren im Karlsruher Zoo besucht habe, freue ich mich natürlich darüber, dass er nun wieder dorthin zurückkehren konnte!
Seit gestern ist Victoria mit dem Eisbärbaby auf der Außenanlage für die Besucher zu sehen, was vorher ja leider nicht möglich war…
So sehr ich mich über Eisbärennachwuchs im Zoo Karlsruhe freuen würde, finde ich es aktuell nicht so günstig, zum einen sind die Plätze rar und zum anderen muss Charlotte wieder umgesetzt werden und Kap womöglich auch…🤔
Liebe Rebecca!
Danke für die akteellen Bilder von Kap. Ich bin sehr froh, dass er wieder in Karlsruhe ist. Er sieht leider nicht gut aus.
Hugs
Ludmila
Thank you very much dear Mervi and Rebecca.
Best wishes to Kap.