The year was 1994, and the hearts of residents all over Colorado were captured by the birth of twin polar bears at the Denver Zoo. Klondike & Snow were rock stars. People lined up for hours to get a glimpse, others wore t-shirts with their pictures, and one thing was for sure, you always heard about them on the news at night. It’s hard to believe it’s been 17 years since two polar bears captured our hearts. Now the world has lost one. Snow passed away Monday at a zoo in Arizona.

Klondike and Snow were the darlings of Denver in 1994 and 1995, before being shipped to Florida in November of that year. The pair were abandoned by their mom, Ulu, and staff at the Denver Zoo raised the cubs after their birth on Nov. 6, 1994. They had basked in the Florida sun since.

Snow had been suffering with chronic allergies at her SeaWorld Orlando home in Florida. So she was moved to a new home in Tucson at the Reid Park Zoo earlier this year. Klondike continues to make his home in Florida.

The Tucson zoo announced Monday that 17-year-old Snow passed away in her sleep.

She was in her normal sleeping position and location, with no signs of trauma.

Meanwhile, the Denver Zoo’s current pair of adult polar bears, Lee and Cranberry, have been designated a “breeding pair.”

Take a trip down memory lane to 1994 with Klondike and Snow…

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