Dearly missed: Laoma the bear. — Xinhua
NANJING: A heartfelt obituary remembering Laoma, a deceased sun bear, has made national headlines in China.
Published earlier this year in the Hongshan Forest Zoo in Nanjing, the capital of East China’s Jiangsu province, the obituary detailed the last days of the male bear’s 33-year life and the interactions between the animal and the keepers at the zoo.
“Since the beginning of winter in 2022, the bear’s food intake decreased and he often slept for a whole day.
“In order to help him survive the winter, the keepers and the vets provided a warm straw nest for him and heated up his favorite vegetable mush,” reads the obit.
Guo Chenxu, the bear’s zookeeper, penned the obituary.
“We still remember when Laoma first entered the outer field of the bear house. It was a beautiful sunny spring. He sat next to the flowers and looked up at the butterflies. The warm wind blew from the city, quietly accompanying Laoma,” Guo wrote.
These sentimental words went viral on social media and were reposted by multiple Chinese news outlets, where people are used to reading zoo reports mostly about newborn animals and imports of exotic species.
In the past, the public rarely had a chance to see how zoos recorded and released the death information of their animals, especially the non-celebrity ones. They passed away invisibly and silently.
But now, Laoma is very much known to the world.
Guo hung the obit outside the bear house the day after Laoma died. The animal passed away while sleeping on Dec 31, 2022.
Most sun bears have a life expectancy of around 20 years. Laoma reached 33, which is equivalent to 100 human years.
Writing an obituary has become a routine for Guo’s colleagues to express mourning for their deceased animal friends.
In September 2020, the zoo wrote an obit for a river deer called Zijin, saying the animal had a friendly, calm and cooperative personality, and “always took the lead in eating when meals were served”.
Recounting the details of an animal’s life is a crucial comfort for the keepers to get through grief.
“We zookeepers are used to dealing with death, too,” said Peng Peila, the first one to write obits for the deceased animals at the zoo.
On the RIP notice for the deer, Peng wrote that Zijin will be missed but not forgotten: “We will always cherish the time we spent together.” — Xinhua
