The artificial insemination of bears took hold in 2004 with the successful impregnation of Woodland Park’s Malayan sun, one of the world’s rarest bears and the most likely candidate for extinction, which ushered along the Seattle biologists’ urgency in undertaking the pregnancy; San Diego’s 1999 impregnation by way of artificial injection of a Giant Panda was the testing ground, and the biologists from both zoo’s maintained constant communication throughout the process. Given Luisa’s age, she was deemed an unlikely candidate for insemination, but the couple at Woodland Park – Gregor and Ingrid – had been living together for four years and not produced, so it was decided that Ingrid would be inseminated to continue the population at Woodland. Once Bartlett was born, however, it was decided she should be donated due to the ailing condition of Luisa.
The new-born Polar bear was transported by air, and Bartlett accepted the young cub at the airport with a couple of other zoo officials, on the off-hand chance that there would be a photo opportunity.
