BAHAWALPUR An aging female bear named Bhoori (brown) died at the local zoo on Wednesday.

A source in zoo management said the age factor and sizzling heat affecting south Punjab for several days may be the cause of her death.

Dawn learnt that 52-year-old Bhoori was well above the 20-year average age of a bear. She was gifted to the local zoo by Lucky Irani Circus in 1998. She lost eyesight about 10 years ago.

Talking to Dawn, Zoo curator Ms Nimra Rashid confirmed the death of the bear.

She said after her posting here a few months back, she had been observing Bhoori’s condition. She said the zoo management had been feeding her regularly but being visually impaired she was unable to move even within her enclosure along with other bears in the zoo.

According to Ms Nimra Rashid, as she was out of the city to attend training courses at Manawan in Lahore, zoo vets along with a team of vets from the Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB), carried out a postmortem examination of the bear before her burial on the zoo’s premises.

She said after the receipt of the postmortem examination report, the exact cause of Bhoori’s death could be ascertained.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2025