Electronic Polar Bears Replace Real Bears At St. Louis Zoo (PHOTO)

The St. Louis Zoo has decided to replace its polar bears with electronic proxies, provided by a local holiday decoration company.

The zoo's living polar bears have had a tough go of it in years past. The Riverfront Times reports,

The zoo's last polar bear, Hope, was euthanized in April when veterinarians found it had cancer.

In May 2005 another polar bear, named Churchill, ate a fatal helping of cloth and plastic inside its bin and died while undergoing stomach surgery. Five weeks later, a polar bear named Penny died at the zoo from infection. Turns out, she had two dead fetuses inside her uterus, though zoo officials didn't now she was pregnant.

Instead of shelling out money to buy another living polar bear (and letting the polar bear display remain empty), the St. Louis Zoo had James Trogolo Co., a company that designs and sells holiday decorations for malls and office buildings nationwide, install electronic polar bears at the zoo.

No word yet on how long the electronic bears will be there in place of their living, breathing counterparts.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch has photos of the electronic animals' installation here here and here (via Riverfront Times).

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Comments

[miles120]

As great as the St. Louis Zoo is, I consider this a metaphor of the city itself.

[PlayTOE]

Here we thought the fires androids would be humanoid. Now we find out they will be zoo animals.
(cheaper to feed and they never go hide in the cave)

[lmpub]

I guess they don't have to worry about someone feeding them.

[maggiee]

I understand them not wanting to replace the bears (I know the National Zoo removed its polar bears because the summers were just too much for them) but I think it's really creepy to replace them with fakes. It's a step away from spray painting some grizzlies and hoping no one will notice.

[Bonny9]

Summer in St Louis is soo humid. Unbearable.

[liberalNmoderation]

Ridiculous.

[allwrite]

They should be made to talk and tell of the imperiled existence of their real life kin.

[Yves Papa]

Will they bite?

[jessicajuliette]

wonder if Borat will lend us the bear he drove around the country in the ice cream truck with?

[Mulvaney]

Maybe the zoo could also feature extinct species like electronic passenger pigeons. Considering what is happening to the bears, rhinos, and other animals, perhaps zoos of the future will be entirely animatronic.

[JessWonderin]

So when can we expect some artist to place a manikin dummy family of humans "watching" the manikin bears????

[formerroadie]

that's just weird

[Obamanaut]

I'm hoping the good people in St. Louis don't know how to kill an electric bear.

[waldopepper]

Is that a real snake?
Do you know how much a real snake is?

Blade runner as prophesy. We are f ucked.

[Spiky Kitten]

We could replace the ones going extinct up north with robots also.

Good enough for a zoo - good enough for the northern territories.
problem solved, on to the next.

[Spiky Kitten]

The precursor to all of these troubles just has to be global warming.