The bear lived at a zoo, the bag and the coat were dropped in its enclosure by a visitor

Feb 13, 2014 13:41 GMT  ·  By
Polar bear living in captivity in Germany dies after eating a bag and a coat
   Polar bear living in captivity in Germany dies after eating a bag and a coat

This past February 11, a polar bear living in captivity at a zoo in Germany passed away after feasting on a bag and a coat, and developing several medical complications as a result of its ingesting these items.

Information shared with the public says that the polar bear, named Anton, was 25 years old at the time of its death. Had it not been for this incident, it could have lived for another 10-15 years.

Apparently, the animal got its paws on the bag and the coat with the help of a visitor to the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, who somehow dropped them in its enclosure.

Apparently, this visitor failed to inform zoo staff that they had lost their belongings inside the polar bear's habitat.

Consequently, Anton's caretakers only figured out that something was off when the polar bear started coughing up bits and pieces of fabric.

In an attempt to save the animal's life, they gave Anton a drug intended to make it vomit, Daily Mail reports.

The drug proved efficient, but, by the time it was administered, the polar bear had already suffered too many internal injuries to be able to recover.

Keepers say that, although visitors have dropped things in Anton's enclosure many times in the past, this was the first time when the animal actually ate them.

“Usually he just ripped up things that fell into his enclosure, I don't know why he decided to eat this object, and can only assume there must have been something very tasty in there,” explains caretaker Andreas Woessner.

“If we had known that something was in the enclosure, we might have been able to save Anton,” adds veterinarian Tobias Knauf-Witzens.

Over the years, several other animals passed away at this zoo after eating things dropped by visitors in their enclosure.

Thus, one time, a hippopotamus died after ingesting a tennis ball, and a simple teddy bear brought about the death of an elephant.

In the aftermath of Anton's passing away, keepers ask that people who visit the zoo and accidentally drop some of their belongings in one of the animal's enclosure immediately alert the staff.