By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — Many with pets treat their furry friends like a child. That relationship extends to much larger, wild animals who make their homes in zoos. On Monday, staff at Brit Spaugh Zoo in Great Bend suffered their own unexpected loss with the death of 10-year-old grizzly, Winnie. Zoo Curator Ashley Burdick said the loss hit staff hard.
"We spend more time with these guys than we do with our families, so it's definitely like losing a pet or even a member of your family if you're that attached to your animals, which we are," she said. "This is especially hard because it was very unexpected, and it happened really fast."
Staff began to suspect something might be wrong on Saturday as Winnie's eating slowed. But that's not unusual in the winter when grizzlies in the wild are hibernating. On Sunday, staff tried to give Winnie electrolytes and something to eat to give him an energy boost. But Monday morning, it was too late. Winnie died at some point during the overnight hours.
"You can tell when they're off, but animals, especially wild animals, are really good at hiding when something's wrong with them," Burdick said. "So you don't often know until it's already too late to do anything."
Winnie was one of four grizzly bears at the zoo: 30-year-old Max, and Winnie's two siblings, Piglet and Pooh. Burdick described Winnie as more laid back than the others, though he did have his sassy moments. He was more apt just go along with his siblings.
Following a death at the zoo, veterinarians perform a necropsy on the animal, which is the equivalent of a human autopsy. Preliminary indications are that Winnie died from gastric torsion, which is a twisting of the stomach. In Winnie's case, the stomach was twisted almost all the way, cutting off blood supply to other parts of the digestive system. He was likely unable to eliminate waste.
Beyond that, Winnie appeared to be a healthy grizzly. Wild bears in the lower 48 states typically weigh between 400 and 600 pounds. Burdick said Winnie weighed 650 pounds during his last physical in the spring of 2022, likely adding another 50 pounds during the fall months.
Because of his size, veterinarians and staff collected samples during the necropsy to be submitted to a laboratory at Kansas State University. Also because of his large size, staff will bury Winnie locally.