Literally.  Today the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s Debbie the Polar Bear celebrated her 40th birthday.  Apparently, she’s the oldest known polar bear. 

For those of you unaware of Winnipeg’s connection to bears, I’ll give you a couple of the facts. 

• Winnie the Pooh, was in fact, named after Winnipeg – home to the Assiniboine Park Zoo (and to a cute little statue)
• Winnipeg is the capitol of Manitoba, the province in which Churchill is located.  Churchill is the ‘polar capitol of the world’.

Hmm.. that’s about it.

The thing that caught my attention when I heard about Debbie’s birthday was the cake they had prepared for her.  It was going to be a mixture of shrimp, snow, and smoked Goldeye, among other things.  I thought the smoked fish was a little much – I mean, Debbie would probably be fine with raw fish.  I guess it’s a special day, so let her eat smoked fish! 

Happy birthday Debbie – and to many more.

PS: The weather  cooperated for Debbie as well.  It was a balmy -22 C today. Brrr.