Murder, Death, and Suicide at the Zoo: Revisiting Anthropomorphic Stories of Quebec's Captive Polar Bears, 1936–58.

This article focuses on the history and public narratives of two cohorts of polar bears housed at the Jardin zoologique du Québec in Charlesbourg between the 1930s and 1950s. It explores how the bears’ individual personalities, enclosure conditions, conditioning by keepers and visitors, and aging influenced their behaviors, which were widely anthropomorphized in media coverage, shaping public perceptions amid growing Canadian interest in the Arctic as a "second frontier." The article details the bears’ acquisition from Hudson’s Bay Company Arctic posts, their training and performances, incidents of aggression including fatal attacks on a visitor and their keeper, and the evolving human-animal relationship reflected in zoo management and popular narratives. These historical accounts highlight the complex interplay between animal behavior, human interpretation, and socio-political contexts, offering insights relevant to contemporary zoo practices and conservation efforts for polar bears.