Polar bear dies after eating zoo visitor's discarded coat and bag
A polar bear has tragically died after eating a coat and bag discarded by a zoo visitor.
Anton the bear died at Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, Germany, on Sunday, despite desperate attempts to save him.
The 25-year-old bear had reportedly been behaving strangely for days, but the issue only came to light when he started spitting out bits of material.
The zoo vet gave him a vomit-inducing drug, which produced more pieces of the bag and jacket. But he died of severe internal injuries and inflammation, reports the Express.
His keepers Andreas Wössner and Jürgen Diesenhofer said he usually just ripped up things that fell into his enclosure, telling thelocal.de: "There must have been something very tasty in there, something Anton simply couldn't resist."
Staff at the zoo have appealed to the public to inform them of any objects falling into enclosures.
Vet Tobias Knauf-Witzens said they could have saved him if they had known what the problem was earlier, and that Anton could have lived another 10 to 15 years had he not eaten the coat and bag.
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