Polar bear having festive family reunion with brother at Yorkshire Wildlife Park just in time for Christmas
A popular local wildlife park has taken in a new polar bear - five years after they welcomed his brother.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP) has welcomed the polar bear as part of a joint initiative with other wildlife protection agencies.
Brodie is being temporarily moved to the Doncaster-based sanctuary from Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland, as they carry out work to his enclosure there.
And the visit will be a festive family reunion, as YWP already houses Brodie’s older brother Hamish, who joined the park five years ago in their Project Polar habitat.
Dr Charlotte MacDonald, director of animals, said: “We are delighted to welcome Brodie at Project Polar and are looking forward to seeing what he makes of his big brother Hamish and his other new friends here at Project Polar. It will be quite an experience for him.
“It may be a while before we can assess if Brodie can be introduced to Hamish and the other bears and we will be monitoring him closely.
“It is important that he settles into his new home before he can meet the other polar bears.
“Any initial introduction will take place via a wire mesh to ensure all the bears are safe and relaxed.”
Project Polar, where YWP’s bears live, spans 10 acres and was designed to replicate the Arctic tundra found in North Canada during the summer.
It is currently home to Nobby, Hamish, Luka, Sisu, Indiana and Yuma.
Bex Brown, who heads up the park’s carnivore team, said that Brodie has been ‘on his own for a while’ and previous lived with just his mother, so being introduced to the adult bears at the park is going to require him to learn ‘a whole new set of polar bear social skills’.
“The other bears are very interested now that they have seen him in the distance though I think he is probably wondering ‘who are all these bears?” Bex added.
“He is really interested to see them which is positive and over the next few weeks we will start to introduce him through the mesh to the other bears individually to see how they react to each other.
“Hamish is used to being the centre of attention so it will be interesting to see what he thinks to the new kid on the block.”