Rejected by Mother, Toronto Polar Bear Cub Clings to Life

Cub is recovering in the Toronto Zoo after the most adorable tragedy in Toronto history.

A premature polar bear cub born at the Toronto Zoo is in intensive care after his mother, Aurora, rejected her litter of three cubs and killed two of them on Wednesday. The third cub, an unnamed male, is in the ICU at the Toronto Zoo being monitored around the clock. Polar bears in the wild often eat their young when other food sources aren't available, but one zoologist thinks the cubs might have been rejected because they were born far earlier in the year than polar bear cubs are usually born, which apparently didn't meet Aurora's high standards for her children. Considering we've already witnessed the death of Knut at the Berlin zoo and a record low for Arctic ice cover, this is shaping up to be one of the most painful years for polar bears, both of the celebrity and less-known-but-still-pretty-awesome variety.