The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) hopes residents will visit ageing Asian black bear Bobo more often, U Ka Man, a senior staff member of the Division of Parks and Gardens, said yesterday.
U said that locals and Bobo “shared many memories”.
The bureau invited the media to visit Bobo for a briefing on his physical condition outside his enclosure in Flora Garden.
According to U, the average lifespan of black bears is 25 to 30 years. She described Bobo as an “old man” as he is already over 30 years old.
Bobo, then still a cub, was seized by the authorities from a wild animal restaurant in Rua da Felicidade, where he was on the menu, after he had been smuggled into Macau from the mainland in the 1980s. The restaurant had put Bobo in to a very small cage outside its premises to attract rich gourmets to eat him.
The government later set up his enclosure in Flora Garden and even arranged a “girlfriend” from the mainland to keep him company. However, the female Asian black bear died a few years ago.
U said: “Bobo, whose name was chosen by Macau residents, is now getting old. He has many shared memories with us. [The government] hopes that residents can visit him more often.”
U said Bobo (which means “darling” in Cantonese) is still quite healthy. However, his eyesight and hearing have become poor recently. According to U, Bobo’s movements have also slowed down considerably. He used to swim regularly about four to five years ago but now he only sits in the pool.
The government considered transferring Bobo to Seac Pai Van Park in Coloane last year. However, U said that due to his advanced age, it would be difficult for Bobo to adapt to a new environment in the park.
Seac Pa Van Park is the state-of the-art home of Macau’s other ursine celebrities – a panda couple and their twin cubs.
A visitor, surnamed Lai, who lives near Flora Garden, told reporters yesterday that she used to visit Bobo with her children many years ago, adding she thought people nowadays would rather like to see the giant pandas in Coloane than Bobo. However, Lai added that she preferred to visit Bobo as the garden is close to where she lives.
U Ka Man, a senior staff member of the Division of Parks and Gardens of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), speaks to reporters yesterday in Flora Garden.
Asian black bear Bobo – rescued from the cooking pots of a local wild animal restaurant in the mid-1980s, relaxes in his spacious enclosure in Flora Garden yesterday. Photos: Debby Seng
