Szenja and Snowflake had lived together for twenty years.
Szenja the polar bear lived with her partner Snowflake for twenty years at Seaworld San Diego.
But when Snowflake was transferred to Pittsburgh Zoo, Szenja was seriously affected. She exhibited signs of depression, had barely any energy and stopped eating, before sadly passing away.
Animal rights charity PETA claims she died of a broken heart.
On its SeaWorld of Hurt campaign blog, PETA stated:
“After losing her companion of 20 years when SeaWorld shipped Snowflake to the Pittsburgh Zoo in order to breed more miserable polar bears, Szenja did what anyone would do when they lose all hope, she gave up.”
The blog continued:
“This should be a wake-up call to SeaWorld: Stop breeding and shipping animals around, close the animal exhibits, and retire the animals to sanctuaries. Until it does, this ship will keep sinking.”
Although thousands of people signed a petition to stop Szenja and Snowflake being separated and PETA themselves urged Seaworld to change their plans, unfortunately they went ahead and moved Snowflake anyway.
Seaworld issued the following statement on the subject:
“We’re proud to have been a part of her life and to know that she inspired people from around the world to want to protect polar bears in the wild.”