An amateur photograph taken 18 days before the unexpected death Wednesday of Bubba, a polar bear at the Lake Superior Zoo, seems to show one of the zoo’s polar bears chewing on a metallic object. Paul Anderson, the zoo’s interim director, said he thinks the object is part of a camera that was thrown or dropped into the exhibit. Visitors’ belongings find their way into the exhibit fairly often, he said. He also said three of the four zookeepers who have seen the picture say the bear is Bubba and not his female companion, Berlin, who is alive. [SUBMITTED BY AARON LAMPINEN]
