Peter the polar bear,Belfast zoo/museum

joylikes2shop

I was at the Ulster museum on Tuesday, and overheard the following story about 'Peter the Polar bear' ( from a respectable looking adult who was also visiting) However, now that I'm researching it further,(on behalf of someone else !!) I cant find any reference to it, so thought I'd see if anyone reading this could help....

Allegedly, when Peter the polar bear died of cancer in Belfast zoo, he was moved to the museum to be stuffed and put on display. Apparently, when the taxidermist cut into Peter he woke up :eek:....Peter, not the taxidermist...and had to be hit on the head with a fire extinguisher ???

Can anyone help ???

blueberrypie

"The stuffed body of an 800-pound Polar Bear which terrified keepers at Belfast's Ulster Museum in the 1970s by threatening to go on a posthumous rampage..."

Well, yes, but it didn't happen quite as you heard it. What scared the museum staff was proof that the bear was dead, rather than his being alive. As his body decomposed, movements came from stiffening limbs and sounds came from gases escaping the body.

http://www.culture24.org.uk/science+%2526+nature/animals/art72616

Here's another link to the story, which mentions that an army patrol was similarly terrified (and also that Peter didn't die of cancer):

http://www.factotum.org.uk/citywide/articles/bears.html

Polar bears are huge and massively powerful. A bear in pain would be angry and ready to strike. If you were to get close enough to reach its head, I very much doubt you'd survive long enough to hit it with anything!

avoniel

Excellent story

BOBS

fantastic .............

mickscool1234

thnks for the help. joy :T

john_anderson_2

Joy, have you ever seen the original 1970's pictures of Peter with 2 little kids? i was the little boy and my father is Sam Anderson who worked alongside Bob Davey preparing Peter. The attendants at the museum used to tell me the Mummy took the polar bear for walks around the museum at nights when no one was around, they showed me fossils with teeth marks telling me Peter had tried to eat them, they had to wrestle the bones of dinosaurs from Peter's jaws.........you can have all the facts in the world, i know what stories i prefer to believe. and i'm pleased Peter had a bit of a holiday when the museum was being refurbished, he told me he did a bit of fishing

joylikes2shop

John...I haven't seen the photographs, but I'll be googling them once I've finished this post:j....Thank you for getting in touch...I'm sure that the person that prompted my post in the first place will be as delighted to hear about your memories as I am :j.....Did you have any input into the Night at the Museum films ????

mickscool1234

hi joy could you find the pic cause i cant were would it be ????????????

mickscool1234

where would i be able to see this pic. i know joylikes2shop (you could say i work with her)

Janesays

I was in Scotland recently and saw on the news that there's actually only one Polar bear in captivity in the UK now - 'Mercedes' @ Edinburgh Zoo

He was recently 'retired to a wildlife park in the highlands near Aviemore