S. Korea’s last polar bear dies ahead of retirement

The last polar bear kept in South Korea has died of old age only weeks before his planned departure to better living conditions in Britain, zoo officials said yesterday. Tongki -- a 23-year-old male named after a Japanese cartoon character of the 1980s -- lived in a 330-square-metre (3,500-square-foot) concrete enclosure at the Everland theme park outside Seoul.

The zoo had planned to move him to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park next month to allow him to enjoy his final days in more appropriate surroundings -- the facility in northern England has a 40,000 square metre polar reserve -- and had thrown him a farewell party in June.

But Tongki was found dead on Wednesday night and autopsy results suggested that he appeared to have died of old age, the zoo said in a statement, adding it plans to conduct more tests to determine the exact reason for his death. The average life span of polar bears is around 25 years and Tongki was the equivalent of around 80 in human terms.