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Cameron Park Zoo employees honor the life of Donna the bear with matching tattoos

The 25-year-old black bear was euthanized on Monday after fighting a battle with skin cancer.

WACO, Texas — "It is always a little weird, when you walk in and our bear barn is just a little bit quieter now," Lindsey Prior, mammal keeper at the Cameron Park Zoo, said. 

Central Texans are mourning the loss of an American black bear named Donna. Donna has been with the Cameron Park Zoo since 2005, and after a battle with cancer, she was euthanized. 

Back in 2019, Donna was diagnosed with breast cancer, but Cameron Park Zoo staff was able to cure her. 

"Luckily, that went very smoothly," Kasey Weber, another mammal keeper at the Cameron Park Zoo, said. 

In the last couple of months, the bear was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a skin cancer.

Cameron Park Zoo says they started a vaccine treatment for Donna and shared that it has worked in other species. Sadly however, Donna did not respond to the treatment.

"We found a point where we knew she wasn't going to improve anymore," Weber said. 

They started doing quality of life assessments before she finished the vaccine treatment. 

Even though Donna is no longer here, zoo keepers describe her as special. 

"She's very very sassy," Weber said. "She definitely likes to let you know she's there. She was one of the keystone animals that people loved seeing at the zoo. She was able to make connections, especially if she was near the glass." 

Donna had a love for all sorts of snacks, especially donuts and animal crackers. Now the donut will serve as a reminder of Donna as Weber and other staff members tattooed donuts on their arms. 

"She really touched people that she didn't necessarily interact with every day like she did the rest of us," Weber said. 

Cameron Park Zoo staff say they still fought hard for the life of Donna as this is not something they take lightly. 

"We do quality of life checks every single day on all of our animals," Prior said. "It can be as simple as whenever we walk by an exhibit, we will check to make sure that our animals are still looking good. It's a combination of both checking to make sure that their husbandry and welfare are taken care of as well as just public safety."

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