Takoda, the youngest black bear at the Oregon Zoo, died Friday from a heart attack while under anesthesia for a routine health check, according to a news release from the zoo.
“Our vet staff did everything possible to bring him back,” said Travis Koons, who oversees the zoo’s Great Northwest area. “They were performing CPR for more than a half hour, but they couldn’t revive him.”
Takoda was well known for climbing a 50-foot Douglas fir in the zoo’s Black Bear Ridge habitat. When he was younger, he would feed on the new growth near the top of the tree each spring while the other bears would wait below for whatever he dropped.
“It was breathtaking to see a 400-pound bear so high up in one of those giant trees,” Koons said. “A little scary for us, to be honest, but black bears are natural climbers.”
“Takoda brought so much joy. He was the life and spirit not only of the group of black bears but also the care staff. He was loved by everyone — from the older bears who adopted him into their group to the keepers who cared for him every day to thousands of fans on social media. It is heartbreaking,” said Koons.
Takoda arrived at the Oregon Zoo in 2010. A Montana rancher found him abandoned, hungry, dehydrated and weighing less than 3 pounds. After he was nursed to health, wildlife officials determined he couldn’t be safely released to the wild and he was transferred to the Oregon Zoo.
— The Oregonian/OregonLive
