Polar Bears as Patients: Caring for Animals at Henry Vilas Zoo Posted on
Berit is relaxed and enjoys snacking on romaine lettuce. Bo is rambunctious and would rather eat lard.
The pair of polar bears, age 22 and 2, respectively, reside at Dane County’s Henry Vilas Zoo in the award-winning Arctic Passage exhibit. The two love snuggling and tally a combined weight of nearly 1,400 pounds. They’ve been together since January after Bo, short for Borealis, arrived from the Toledo Zoo.
Thurber
“I am so lucky to get to work with such wonderful polar bears,” says Mary Thurber DVM’14, the primary veterinarian at Henry Vilas Zoo. Thurber is a clinical instructor of zoological medicine at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine and a board-certified diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine.