West Island zoo mourns loss of Juno, 'miracle' black bear

Juno, the "miracle bear" that had lived at the Ecomuseum Zoo in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue since 2014, died earlier this week, the museum announced today.

The black bear was found in distress a week ago, unable to move her front legs. The zoo's veterinary staff conducted "multiple tests, numerous treatments and even the surgical insertion of a gastric tube to administer drugs directly into her stomach on Sunday afternoon," the Ecomuseum wrote in a Facebook post.

"Even though the pain was controlled, there were still no signs of improvement on Tuesday morning and the paralysis was then obviously permanent in nature," the post continued. "This left Juno with no acceptable quality of life and no prospect of improvement."

As a consequence, Juno was euthanized and "she left us calmly, surrounded by a large part of the Ecomuseum Zoo team."

The exact cause of the bear's decline is not yet known, said Émilie Sénécal, the zoo's communications director. A necropsy is being performed and results will be available in a few weeks, she said.

In an interview on CBC's Homerun in 2017, David Rodrigue, the zoo's executive director, said Juno was a "miracle bear" because she had managed to survive in the wild in Manitoba as an orphan cub, before being rescued by wildlife officers in 2012. 

"She had basically been abandoned for a year, at least, by the mother," Rodrigue said. "She was ill and had almost no hair."

When she was rescued she weighed eight kilograms and required intensive care for health issues. Extended close contact with humans at such a young age meant she could not be returned to the wild, and in 2014 she was given to the Ecomuseum.

The Ecomuseum is inviting people to share their memories of Juno on its Facebook page.