Man tries to save life of brown bear with CPR in Donegal

Co Donegal man Killian MacLochlainn has revealed how he did all he could to save the life of brown bear Aurnia after she suffered complications while having two teeth removed.

The owner of the Wild Ireland animal retreat said he even gave Aurnia chest compressions in a bid to save her from dying at the weekend.

Killian captured the hearts of the nation with his plan to bring back some of Ireland’s most fearsome creatures back to his sanctuary in Burnfoot on the Inishowen Peninsula.

His animal sanctuary, which opened last October, even had its own television show.

Speaking about Aurnia’s loss, he said: “Our beautiful brown bear Aurnia, our golden lady, had two broken canine teeth and they had started to give her a lot of pain and a lot of trouble.

“We brought in a team of specialist vets which had the skills and the tools required to do dentistry work on a bear. If you can imagine their canine teeth are very large and you need specialist equipment in order to work with those teeth.

“Basically she had broken two of her canine teeth and they were causing her pain. Any anaesthetic is risky but it’s even more risky if you are working with a large wild animal like a bear.

“Sadly during the procedure, Aurnia stopped breathing and I tried to do chest compressions and the team tried and the team were trying to do chest compression with her for forty five minutes but unfortunately we couldn’t get her to start breathing again and we lost her.”

Aurnia had a pretty miserable start to life and she was kept in a small cage behind bars in Lithuania.

Killian had rescued and brought Aurnia to Ireland a year ago.

He said they were glad she had enjoyed a good life with them.

“She was here just over a year and she had a pretty good life here and that’s the only thing that is consoling us all here.

“We all loved her dearly. The only thing that is consoling us is that she had one good year here, probably the best year of her life here at Wild Ireland.

“I’d like to remember her like that,” he added.

As well as the brown bears, there are wolves, a golden eagle, a lynx and snowy owls at the centre.

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