This is a press release courtesy of the Oregon Zoo

Gerry, a 22-year-old black bear at the Oregon Zoo, was euthanized Wednesday after veterinarians determined they could no longer treat the various ailments brought on by her advanced age.

"She had several serious incurable medical problems," said Lisa Harrenstien, zoo veterinarian.  "Cancer in her chest, kidney failure, arthritis… She had been dealing well with all of it, until this week, when she took a big turn for the worse and we decided euthanasia was the only humane option for her."

Keepers and vet staff became concerned several days ago when Gerry no longer wanted to eat anything, even her favorite treat foods.

"She was a very picky eater," said Virginia Grimley, her primary keeper at the zoo. "But she would never turn down fish or honey."

"Gerry had never acted that way in the whole time any of us had known her," Harrenstien said. "It made us think that she was in too much discomfort, from untreatable disease."

Gerry was born in the wild in 1987. Orphaned as a cub in South Dakota, she was brought to Portland in June of that year and grew up in the zoo's nursery area with another cub, Patsy. Gerry lived at the zoo until 1997, when construction began on the award-winning Great Northwest exhibit complex. She spent the following decade at Wildlife Images in southern Oregon, before returning to Portland in 2007 for the opening of the zoo's Black Bear Ridge exhibit.

"Gerry was a very special bear," Grimley said. "Even though she was an old bear, she was young at heart. She would perk up whenever something new came into the exhibit. One of the things she loved to do was to throw feed bags and butcher paper around to turn them into a bed."

Senior North America Keeper Amy Cutting praised the lengths Grimley went to in personalizing Gerry's care: "Gerry was always provided with new and interesting bedding, since she was so meticulous about preparing the perfect little 'nest' every day."

"Gerry especially liked sleeping her days away in the cave or in the sun," Grimley said. "And if the other bears disturbed her, she became very feisty with them. Gerry was more social with her keepers than with the other bears. She would often present her back for us to scratch with our back-scratcher tool. Having an opportunity to work with a bear who was strong-willed up until the very end made every day a little extra special. She truly will be missed."

The black bear is the smallest of the three bear species native to North America, which include the grizzly and the polar bear. An estimated 600,000 black bears inhabit North America. They can grow up to 6 feet long and range from 90 to 400 pounds. They communicate through body and facial expressions, sounds, touch and scent markings.