Jimmy Doherty saves Swedish polar bear from being put down with new home in Suffolk

A Swedish polar bear has been given a new home and saved from being put down by an animal farm.

Ewa, a rescued polar bear, has arrived at Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park in Wherstead, near Ipswich.

The Orsa Predator Park in Sweden was shut after being sold to developers, so the female bear would have been put to sleep if she was not saved by the TV presenter Jimmy Doherty.

The rescue was successful, however another bear who moved with Ewa had an unknown heart condition and has died, the park said.

Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park said the new home for the bear was "world class" and Europe's largest polar bear reserve.

Ewa will be part of a new exhibition at the park called 'The Lost Lands of Tundra' which will open to the public on 21 October and also includes a pack of arctic wolves and a herd of reindeer.

The bear will have access to five acres of land across the zoo as well as three "expansive" pools.

The new development has open pastures, woodland, deep ponds and lakes, but has been created to highlight how the habitat is disappearing due to climate change.

In an Instagram video, Jimmy Doherty said: "I want people to be awe inspired when they come and see them."

Mr Doherty said he was also trying to rescue a brown bear who was on "borrowed time".

Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park features in the BBC show 'Jimmy’s Farm', with the zoo containing over 100 different animal species including crocodiles and monkeys.

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