Cub
Keeper Notes
November 4
“This bear’s brain is like a sponge!” We’ve heard this
countless times from the Glacier Run staff about polar bear
cub, Qannik, and in particular from Supervisor of Animal
Training Jane Anne Franklin or her mentor former Louisville
Zoo general curator Steve Taylor (who is now helping out
with observing and managing Qannik.) It is usually followed
up by an anecdotal account of the cub’s amazing
intelligence. Each keeper has examples of the myriad of ways
that Qannik uses her problem solving skills. Her object
manipulation is one example. She uses toys in ways other
than play, for example using a toy as a stair step to jump
in the back of the truck (even though we all know she can
get in that truck without a stool). Franklin and Taylor
have to mentally stay ten steps ahead of the little bear to
keep things fresh and keep her brain engaged. This might
mean that when Taylor is at home mowing his lawn he is
thinking of ways to engage Qannik or when Franklin is at
home trying to rest she may pop out of bed in the wee hours
of the morning with the next idea for an enrichment activity
to present to the cub. If rewriting the plan for bear
management in zoos has Franklin and Taylor losing a few
winks they are up to the task.
Taylor, who has a lifetime of animal experience including
35 years in zoos (he started working in a veterinarian”s
office when he was in high school), says this moment in time
and working with this bear is an honor, “I think my whole
career has led me to this point. Everything that I have
experienced and honed in my 35 years of animal work has
equipped me and Jane Anne to be able to work with Qannik in
a way that no one else has done before.” Franklin ad
Taylor have worked together for 20 years starting when
Franklin joined the Louisville Zoo staff as a keeper in the
Giraffe area and Taylor was the General Curator. Neither of
them takes lightly the job of caring for this wild born cub.
They see the significance of their task and realize that
what they are learning and doing with this little cub could
shift the paradigm for bear management in zoos. The last
work with a young wild born cub was ten years ago at the San
Diego Zoo with trainer JoAnne Simerson (you can see her
notes below from her visit to our Zoo to help with the first
few days of Qannik’s stay in Louisville). Franklin and
Taylor have taken what Simerson’s team shared of their
experience, added ten years more of acquired information to
it and have created a behavioral management program, which
includes intense observation, that they hope will break new
ground. “Every day one of us (the team also includes Kevin
Grizzle and Tracey Parke) is with her during her exhibit
times and up until bedtime. We watch her play, we watch her
problem solve, we watch how she interacts with us and with
the items we give her.” Franklin adds. Nearly everything
they observe with notebook in hand is a piece of intel they
take into account to tweak, edit or add to in order to
stimulate and keep Qannik’s brain active.
 Week of Oct. 10
Siku
LOVES his peanut butter. He isn’t brand specific, any peanut
butter will do. He seems to particularly love the enrichment
of what we call puzzle feeders. A puzzle feeder is something
that Siku has to interact with to get to the peanut butter
within. He is still young (nearly two) and his brain is
still developing so we keep him busy with a lot of
enrichment items and opportunities like puzzle feeders. Siku
will obliterate a box to get to his beloved peanut butter.
This photo of Siku’s behind says it all, can you guess what
is inside that tube? (photo by Kyle Shepherd)
He continues to settle in to his new
home. He is eating about 10 lbs of food per day…meat,
herring, capelin, polar bear biscuits, dog kibble and of
course, peanut butter!
Week of September 26, 2011
Interview with Jane Anne Franklin,
Louisville Zoo Assistant Mammal Curator
Siku continues to settle into his new
home at Glacier Run, still in quarantine, however. We
anticipate his being on exhibit for you to enjoy end of
October. He’s eating great. A diet of meat, fish and polar
bear biscuits with a tasty peanut butter treat thrown in
(which he seems to truly enjoy as he licks every bit from
the mesh ). Speaking of treat… Siku and the other bears,
Qannik, Arki, Otis, Rita and Inga got watermelon this
week. A nice juicy treat for six big bears!
 Qannik
not only seemed to enjoy her watermelon, she seems to
thoroughly enjoy Aunt Arki’s green- handled boomer ball. It
‘s only a loan as Arki seems to enjoy the same toy. As our
bear family has grown so has our toy collection. No worries
more green handled boomer balls are on the way! Qannik is a
healthy 136 as of this week. We are continually amazed at
her problem solving skills. Her gray ball got stuck under
the truck one afternoon. The little cub dug right in,
sliding under the truck with grace and skill and got her
ball! Then tuckered out she crawled into her black ice bin
and napped. (photo at left by Kyle Shepherd)
 September
6, 2011
Interview with Jane Anne Franklin,
Louisville Zoo Assistant Mammal Curator
"Siku's Arrival"
We’ve been excited about getting Siku, the nearly two
year-old male polar bear cub from the Toledo Zoo here and
settled. He is finally here! Siku arrived Tuesday evening,
“Large mammal transports are always a big deal by their very
nature,” says assistant mammal curator Jane Anne Franklin
who is the primary caregiver for the bears at Glacier Run.
“This was a lot of bear, a lot of crate and a lot of
people.” He arrived from Toledo in a large
climate-controlled semi truck.
 As
always the animal’s safety is paramount. Doors and locks
were checked and rechecked and then rechecked again for
human safety as well. Animal transports require the utmost
attention to detail, “It is all about dotting your “I’s” and
crossing your “T’s” adds Franklin. Siku’s transport went
smoothly thanks to all of those dotted “I’s” and crossed
“T’s” and to the professional teams at both Toledo and
Louisville Zoo’s. Once Siku was unloaded he settled in
fairly quickly. Within 30 minutes of his arrival he was
swimming in his private pool in his private den, where he
will spend a 30 day standard quarantine before going into
exhibit rotation with the other bears. The swim allowed Siku
to get clean from his travels. All the humans watching felt
like they had gone swimming with him, or at least got very
wet from his very large displacement of water upon diving
in. After a diving and swimming and discovering his new
world through his nose, Siku ate a bit and then Franklin
says the team left him alone for the rest of the evening and
he went to sleep.
Photos by Kyle Shepherd.
 July,
2011
JoAnne Simerson,
San Diego Zoo
"Little Polar Bear Orphan: Learning and
Lessons"
For polar bear cubs from the moment they are born until
momma kicks them out life is all about learning to survive
in the Arctic. Momma bear has all the right stuff for
teaching –intelligence, nourishment, and communication. For
Qannik communication between her and her keepers would be
the first lesson. Luckily Qannik is very intelligent, and
dare I say so are keepers! Training using positive
reinforcement is how we communicate with our bears. We
taught Qannik to slurp her formula out of a large syringe
that is easy to use from outside the mesh. Qannik is a large
girl now and will soon be reaching over 400 pounds so it’s
important we teach her just as we would when she is an adult
polar bear. So important is this beginning relationship that
is formed – we look for nice relaxed eye to eye moments.
Next is a few simple behaviors like shifting rooms, sitting,
or paw present.
While the Louisville Zoo keepers were flying to Alaska to
pick up Qannik one of my tasks was to build a false bottom
in her new pool to help her learn how to swim. In the Arctic
momma bear will offer her back for the young cubs to hold on
to until they learn to swim well. With the help of Steve
Goodwin, Louisville Zoos all-round-can-do-it-all guy,(he
makes incredible pottery too!) we built, netted, tied, and
lashed a false bottom into the pool. The design allowed for
1. sloped access into the deep-end, 2. strength enough to
hold a pouncing 60 pound bear, and 3. to easily take apart
once Qannik could swim and get out of the pool on her own.
The day after Qannik arrived we all gathered to watch her
make her first plunge into the pool. Miss Qannik knows how
to hold her audience! She spent the majority of the day on
the first steps holding on by her toes, stretching ever so
far that we all knew she had to go in! She would turn and
look at us as if to say “Got cha!” Finally she rewarded our
patience by a not so graceful dive into the pool after a
white bucket toy. After the first excitement we held our
breaths, would she be able to get out of the pool? Well of
course –she’s a polar bear! At that moment we decided we
could take the false bottom out of the pool, it had done its
job! The slope helped her with gradual ease into the pool,
it was strong enough to hold her and finally easy to take
apart. Did you know little polar bears are also helpful?
Qannik hopped right back into the pool and began to
dismantle the false bottom to the floor. Qannik’s Louisville
Zoo keepers report she throws all her toys into the pool and
is officially a swimming maniac.
When the time came to say good bye to little Qannik it
was not without a lump in my throat. In only a week she had
grabbed my heart for all she has been through in her short
life. What a spirit, so tenacious, so tough, so intelligent,
so irresistible, a connection to the wild. All polar bears
are like Qannik. It’s hard to think that there will be more
Qannik’s to rescue and some that we won’t find. My time with
Qannik was also about the wonderful folks that all came
together to rescue and care for this little bear and the
great team that will be there when the next bear needs help.
We can make the changes as individuals joining together into
communities to collaborate on conservation to save our
arctic ice and the beautiful spirited creatures that live
there.
June 30, 2011
JoAnne Simerson, San Diego Zoo
"Polar Bear Qannik –A Little Polar
Bear’s Travels"
Everyone was worried when word first came about an
orphaned polar bear cub in Alaska last April. Luckily for
the cub many folks had been preparing for this exact day for
the past few years. Understanding that with the warming of
the Arctic the resulting sea ice loss would put pressures on
polar bear survival ideas, plans, and communication avenues
were established between conservation groups like Polar
Bears International, government agencies like USFWS, and zoo
professionals from North America to safely and expertly
respond to rescue a polar bear orphan.
The cub was named “Qannik” (ken-ik) an Inpuiaq word for
snowflake. She was underweight at 15 pounds when rescued but
now after a few months of adjustment and care at the Alaska
Zoo the 60 pound cub was flown on a 747 jet, compliments of
UPS, to her new home at the Louisville Zoo’s new Glacier
Run! It’s hard to believe 10 years ago we were going through
the same experience when Kalluk and Tatqiq were rescued on
the ice of Alaska at 3 months old. Along with the excitement
comes some worries of how to make sure we give the best care
ever! Back then we had many folks to call on for advice. It
is now our turn to share what we learned back then. We
compiled everything from formula amounts, recipes, how many
feedings per day, weights at what age (I forgot that Kalluk
gained 5 lbs. in one day!), training records, veterinary
records, everything we could put together and sent it all to
Louisville.
I arrived in Louisville the day before Qannik to help
with last minute preparations. Part of the Louisville Zoo
staff had headed to Alaska to begin getting to know Qannik
and becoming familiar to her and along with her care takers
from Alaska escort her on the plane to Louisville. During
the flight she slept often and was treated with frozen
popsicles made of her formula – definitely a big hit! How
often when we fly we want our luggage to be the first off-
if you’re a polar bear cub it’s no problem. Qannik was first
one off the plane. We then placed her in our van and drove
back to the zoo. Now tell me how many of you have been in a
van with a polar bear cub! By the way she traveled easily no
complaints just lots of sniffing.
Next she was carried into the bedroom area and the crate
door opened. She immediately came out and explored, well
explored after she had a bowl of formula and small chunks of
Alaskan salmon! After a bit of a romp and roll through the
fresh hay she crawled into the den and fell asleep.
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