By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Churchill the polar bear, a long-time resident of the St. Louis Zoo, died Thursday in surgery, zoo officials announced Friday.
The zoo said in a statement that Churchill appeared to have abdominal discomfort and a loss of apetite recently. Zoo staff performed the surgery to try to find what was obstructing the stomach, and found a piece of cloth and bits of plastic trash bags.
That discovery has the zoo reiterating that guests should not throw anything to the animals.
Churchill came to the St. Louis Zoo in 1991. He had been healthy until last week and lived with two other female bears, Hope and Penny. Churchill was 18; polar bears' life spans are about 25.