Happy 20th Birthday Ewa!

Ewa arrived at the Suffolk wildlife park in October 2023 after being rescued from Sweden’s Orsa Predator Park, which closed following a sale to developers. Now thriving in her new home, she lives alongside fellow bears Flocke and Tala in the Park’s expansive ‘Lost Lands of the Tundra’ home to Europe’s largest polar bear reserve. Spanning more than 16 acres the reserve encompasses open woodland, pasture and three deep lakes (with the deepest reaching 16m), the reserve was purpose-built to support natural polar bear behaviours, from swimming and foraging to resting.

To celebrate her milestone birthday, Ewa’s dedicated ranger team prepared a day of special enrichment, including scent-filled “presents” and an impressive ice cake packed with fish and fruit.

CEO Jimmy Doherty said:

“Celebrating Ewa’s 20th birthday is incredibly special. It reflects not only her resilience but the care and passion that go into everything we do here. Watching her flourish reminds us why rescue work matters – she still had life left to live and giving her that second chance has been a privilege.”

As the UK’s oldest polar bear, Ewa has become a powerful ambassador for animal welfare and Arctic conservation. Her story helps highlight one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the species today: rapidly changing climates and the loss of sea ice.

Although many pictured polar bears are in year-round snow and ice, most wild bears live in mixed environments and experience fluctuating seasonal conditions. Ewa’s reserve at Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park reflects this reality designed to ensure the highest welfare standards while helping visitors understand the complexities of polar bear conservation.

Park Director Stevie Sheppard said:

“Ewa is an elderly bear, yet she’s thriving here in Europe’s largest polar bear reserve. In the wild, polar bears typically live to around 15–18 years, so she has already surpassed the natural life expectancy of her species. We’re honoured to have her as part of our family and proud of everything she teaches us about resilience and hope for polar bears everywhere.”

The birthday celebration follows another major moment for the Park: the arrival of three big cats last month. Asiatic lions Kamal and Rani, along with Amur tiger Kalinka, arrived in Suffolk to move into their specially designed reserves, being the newest addition to the Park’s growing conservation landscape.

It’s been over two decades since Jimmy Doherty founded Jimmy’s Farm which was born on an old dairy farm on the outskirts of Ipswich. Jimmy dreamt of a full restoration, returning the totally derelict farm back to a fully working, thriving livestock farm. His vision was to only use traditional, free-range farming methods with 100% traceability, rearing rare and domestic breeds from the UK. They focused initially on the Essex pig with a bloodline so rare it was classed as extinct. In 2003, The Essex Pig Company was born. Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park is now home to a wildlife park, vegetable and flower gardens, a farm shop, restaurant, and retail concessions and the residence of over 100 species and breeds from capybara to crocodiles, pigs to polar bears. Jimmy’s vision and belief that the natural world should be accessible and available to all is an ongoing but hopeful, promising and encouraging mission.