Quebec zoo reports two polar bear births

SAINT-FELICIEN, Quebec, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Canadian zoo in Quebec reported the rare and successful births of two polar bear cubs who will be released into the Arctic next year.

In a news release, Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Felicien said resident polar bear Aisaqvaq gave birth Nov. 30 to the two cubs, but she has kept them in her den and their genders weren't immediately known.

Video clips of the three bears at the zoo 200 miles north of Quebec City can be seen at www.zoosauvage.org.

Aisaqvaq bore a single cub in December 2008, but ate it, the zoo said.

Meanwhile, the Canwest News Service reported four cases of polar bear cannibalism have been confirmed in the northeastern Manitoba community of Churchill this year by the provincial conservation authority.

Scientist Andy Derocher told the news agency several other reports were being investigated.

"The cannibalism events are really just a manifestation of the effects of global warming on the bears," he said. "It's an act of desperation -- it's what they do when they can't find something else to eat."