Africa's last polar bear 'died of a broken heart'

Africa's last polar bear is dead.

Wang, who arrived at the Johannesburg Zoo as a cub in 1986, was euthanised yesterday, just before noon.

Wang suffered from liver failure and chronic arthritis, but some of the zoo staff believe he died of a broken heart.

Wang's partner of 27 years, GeeBee, died in January.

"That sort of pushed him over the edge," said the zoo's chief veterinarian, Dr Brett Gardner, who put Wang down.

Wang's keeper Agnes Maluleke had tried to lift the polar bear out of his depression over the last couple of months by plying him with buckets of fruit.

But it failed to rouse him.

Maluleke's cellphone was switched off yesterday, and her colleagues said Wang' s death had left her distraught.

Wang arrived from the Sapporo Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan, when he was a year old.

Geebee was caught in the wild, after she was found abandoned by her mother in Quebec, Canada.

Said Gardner: "When I first saw Wang, I was a kid just out of diapers. Little did I know then I would have to euthanise him one day."

In 2010 Wang was diagnosed with liver failure and was put on medication. At the time, the zoo's authorities did not give him long to live, and most believed he would die before GeeBee.

The zoo decided in 2010 that the polar bears would not be replaced once they had died.

As Wang's health deteriorated last month, the zoo authorities began discussing putting him down. Gardner made that final call yesterday morning.

"All in all it is a sad day," he said.

The Johannesburg Zoo has dedicated its September 14 Zoo Trot to Wang.

Tributes to Wang can be posted to the zoo's Twitter and Facebook accounts: @JoburgParksZoo and @JoburgParks.