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"In the 1970s a polar bear escaped from Belfast Zoo. After roaming
around West Belfast it was tracked down and shot by the police. They
took it to Ulster Museum where it was put into storage. But the bear
wasn't dead. During the night a security man heard strange noises
around the museum and found the door to the storage vault ripped
open, the polar bear was rampaging through the museum and the police
were called in once again. They shot it behind the ear leaving a mark
which can be seen on the displayed bear to this day".
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David Erwin worked at the Ulster Museum in the 1970's he provides a
more accurate account of what happened: Belfast Zoo wanted to get rid
of `Peter' a twenty five-year-old polar bear because he wasn't mixing
well socially with two new bears the museum had just bought.
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They contacted the Ulster Museum who said that they would be
interested in having the bear if it was put down with drugs instead a
bolt gun through the head, mainly to preserve the skull. According to
the Ulster Museum any animal that is found dead or washed ashore is
crown property, the museum gets first option of claiming.
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Joe Gracey (Head of the Biology Department) fired numerous
darts into Peter's hide until he keeled over, the animal was then
given a lethal injection. It took 10 men to lift Peter into a van,
which then headed for the museum. En route they were stopped by an
army patrol at Carlisle Circus who made them get out when they
claimed they had a polar bear in the back. The army searched the van
but promptly let them go because they believed the animal was still
alive.
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Peter's cadaver was loaded into the freezer at the museum.
This was the point where paranoia began to set in. Mr Erwin teased
the security men about the bear before he left to go home that
evening. A series of miscommunications ensued later that night. The
guards phoned the head of the museum to report the bear was still
alive. The head of the museum attempted to contact Joe Gracey who was
not at home that night. His wife contacted the Police and an APB was
put out across the city for Gracey to contact the museum. There
happened to be an international press conference at the Europa Hotel
and when they heard the story a pack of journalists from papers such
as the Washington Post to Der Spiegel rushed to the museum. The next
morning Gracey informed all that Peter had been dead and would remain
dead for the foreseeable future.
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Twenty years after the event Erwin overheard a group of
soldiers talking in a bar in Cheltenham about how they'd spotted a
group of men in Belfast with a live polar bear in the back of their
van. Erwin noted with some amusement that the soldiers were only in
their late twenties and could not have been on duty at the time.
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Some Belfast Bear Marginalia:
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Belfast, Maine in America hosts an annual Bear festival, their press
release: "Belfast Bearfest 2002! Once again, more than 40 NEW bears,
along with plenty of "Alumni Bears" will be prowling the downtown
streets of Belfast and ambling over the bridge to East Belfast."
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A polystyrene Polar bear was reported in the Lagan marshlands in
1994. No explanation is available as to who put it there or for what
purpose.
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Guinness Polar Bear Figurine $29.95. Approximately 5 1/4" tall,
resin. Made by Carlin Collectables, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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