**UPDATE March 13** Quebec Aquarium says the necropsy shows that Taiga died of pneumonia, which has happened in other institutions before, but never in Cochrane or Quebec. Her son, Eddy, will remain in Cochrane until late spring.
One of the two bears from the Quebec Aquarium living at the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat has died.
Ten-year-old Taiga was found when staff went in to work yesterday (Tuesday) morning.
Cochrane Mayor Denis Clement has spoken to staff, who he says are shocked and don’t know why she died.
“She was a bit under the weather the last day or so, but they came in in the morning and she suddenly passed away,” he relates.
“We’ve contacted the Quebec Aquarium. We’ll ship the bear back to them. They will undergo a necropsy exam and then we’ll know more from that.”
There are also three permanent resident polar bears living at the Habitat: Henry, Ganuk and Inukshuk