Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat

09/03/2026

The bears got a new enrichment: a kayak! It has had more success surviving longer than the raft.

Huge shout out to our Animal Care Team Lead Jess for getting the kayak!

09/01/2026

We wanted to let everyone know that the kid’s paddle pool has closed for the season. It will be reopened next year once the warm weather rolls in, typically around mid-June. Keep an eye out on our social media pages for updates on opening day!

08/29/2026

Nanook’s Snack Shack is now closed for the season as our summer students are headed back to school! A huge thank you goes out to our students, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavours!

08/28/2026

We will be having a back-to-school sale on our online store August 29th and 30th.

Get 25% off all kids and youth items as well as Canada wide free shipping using code SCHOOL2026.

Visit polarbearhabitat.ca/shop to check it out.

08/26/2026

We are excited to share that a short film about the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat has been selected for the 2026 Toronto Independent Film Festival.

Earlier this year, Diego and Celeste visited us and captured not only remarkable footage of our polar bears, but also the passion, dedication, and purpose behind our work. Their storytelling highlights the daily commitment of our staff, the exceptional care provided to our animals, and the mission that guides our organization every day.

We are proud to see this project recognized and deeply honoured to have been part of something created with such authenticity and passion. Thank you Diego and Celeste for so thoughtfully sharing our story with the world.

08/19/2026

The Polar Bear Habitat recently underwent its annual proactive inspection by Ontario Animal Welfare Services.

We're proud to share that all areas assessed were compliant with current standards, with particular praise for our enrichment evaluation system, which promotes species-appropriate behaviour and supports animal welfare.

Thank you to Senior Specialty Compliance Inspector Collins for the thorough review and continued commitment to animal welfare across Ontario. These annual inspections help ensure consistent oversight and support continuous improvement under the PAWS Act, 2019.

📷: Senior Specialty Compliance Inspector Collins on the left, Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat Supervisor Brooke Etherington on the right

08/18/2026

Collaboration highlight

Not only were we excited that Nova Scotia based artist Guy Hobbs approached us to create artwork of our bears, but we have been blown away by the result!

We look forward to adding prints of "Into the Blue', a work of Ganuk, to the collection of prints we have available in our giftshop.

To see more of Guy's artwork visit https://guyhobbs.com/

I am very pleased to announce that I am working on some projects with Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat (https://www.polarbearhabitat.ca/), including this new painting of one of their bears, Ganuk.

"Into the Blue" - Polar Bear 18 x 10" Colour Pencil over acrylic base. Reference supplied by Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat.

The Habitat will be carrying prints and notecards featuring some of my paintings in their gift shop.

A big thank you to Amy and Brooke from the Habitat for making this possible and for being such a pleasure to work with. Also a big thank you to Ganuk for being such an awesome model.

Watch this space for more paintings and possibly a Hullabaloo Zoo crossover...

08/14/2026

Our Animal Care Team have been busy building a polar bear sized raft using fire hose that was generously donated by Ottawa Fire Station 47!

After hours of interacting with the raft the bears found a weak point in our design, and the rest was history. Stay tuned for a behind the scenes video about how the raft was built and how we got it out of the lake!

Visit our new YouTube channel to see more footage of the bears with the raft! The link is in our bio!