25-year-old black bear dies at Los Angeles Zoo

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An orphaned black bear who lived at the Los Angeles Zoo for 25 years has died. The zoo says the bear, Ranger, was euthanized on Wednesday because he was in declining health and had a decreased quality of life, Ranger was an orphaned cub when he was rescued in Minnesota in 1997 and sent to the zoo, where he lived his entire life. The zoo says he couldn’t be returned to the wild because he’d grown accustomed to human interaction. Zoo director Denise Verret says Ranger “helped connect millions of Angelenos to the type of wildlife that exists around us” and his loss is deeply felt.