An orphaned polar bear cub from the Churchill, Man., area has arrived in Winnipeg, the Assiniboine Park Zoo says.
Conservation officers identified the northern Manitoba cub as a candidate for transfer to the zoo's Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre under the Polar Bear Protection Act after its mother was found dead, the zoo said in a Friday news release.
The conservation centre facility was established with provincial support to provide refuge to select polar bears, the release said.
Chris Enright, senior director of zoological operations at the zoo, said the cub "unfortunately had no chance of survival in the wild on its own."
"It hadn't learned the hunting skills it needs to survive yet," Enright told CBC Manitoba's Up to Speed host Marjorie Dowhos on Friday.
"Fortunately, this isn't something that happens every day. We absolutely recognize that polar bears in the wild are valuable and should stay wild when they're out there. We're here to provide support in instances when an animal doesn't have a chance of survival in the wild."
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He said the province is still investigating how the cub's mother died.
In consultation with the province, members of the Assiniboine Park Conservancy's polar bear rescue and care team sent equipment and resources to support the cub's initial care needs in Churchill, the zoo's news release said.
Veterinary staff then went north to assess the cub and oversee its transfer to Winnipeg. It arrived safely late Thursday evening, the news release said.
The bear will now get specialized care from veterinary professionals, animal care experts and conservation scientists, the zoo said.
It will undergo a quarantine period and stay behind the scenes, while veterinary and animal care teams assess its health and care needs.
Enright said the acclimation process is done "incrementally, and at the speed that the cub is ready for."
The zoo's experience with the past 10 bears it's taken in suggests it could take about two weeks for the cub to thrive in the new environment — so, those two weeks are planned carefully, getting the bear used to food, people and other things.
"We give the bear opportunities to exercise its faculties as a bear, to wrestle with things, to play, to explore, to do all of those things that a young bear should be doing. And in time, we start working in more and more of the human elements in order to give that bear really a comfort and familiarity with life in human care," Enright said.