BARTON COUNTY— The community of Great Bend is mourning the loss of a popular zoo animal.

On Friday, officials at the Brit Spaugh Zoo made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize Bonnie, the North American Black Bear.

Bonnie called Great Bend her home since April of 2004 when she arrived at just 11-weeks-old along with 7-week-old Clyde.

The two of them lived happily as companions until 2013 when Clyde died after a long illness.

Over the past two years Bonnie had three different bouts of unexplained pain. With careful veterinary care, zoo staff made her comfortable and helped her through the first two.

When this third time suddenly struck Friday morning the vet immediately treated her but nothing would work to alleviate her pain. Official cause of death won’t be determined until lab results are back, but it has been determined that the pain was coming from severe abnormalities in her stomach and small intestine.

Sara Hamlin, zoo supervisor and curator said “We are absolutely devastated at the sudden loss of our sassy Bonnie Bear. She loved to antagonize her keepers and do whatever she could to disagree with us but it just made us love her even more. She truly was a unique individual and she will be greatly missed.”