(previous interviews in this series can be found here.)

Welcome to another installment of 5 Questions with a 5-Year-Old. Today, Zoey chats with Marie-Josée Côté, one of the zookeepers (and the one in charge of the polar bears) at Zoo Sauvage de St-Félicien. See The Roarbots review of the zoo here.

Zoey is in love with polar bears. Her favorite stuffed animal in the world is a little polar bear, and she takes it with her everywhere. It’s literally been around the world since Zoey took it along to China and Japan….and now Canada!

Our local zoo–the National Zoo in Washington, DC–sadly doesn’t have any polar bears. Therefore, Zoey was beyond excited when she got to see a real, live polar bear while visiting Zoo Sauvage in Quebec.

Here’s some fun footage of the polar bear swimming around…

Unfortunately, we lost the beginning of her interview to some technological demons. Her first question was about how many polar bears are in the wild versus zoos. I apologize. The video below begins in the middle of the second question.

As always, all questions are hers. I simply prompt her with “clue words” so she can remember. (Make sure you turn on subtitles if you can’t make out Zoey’s questions.)

Following the interview, Zoey was treated to a wonderful surprise and taken on a special behind-the-scenes tour to see where the polar bear eats, sleeps, and escapes the prying eyes of zoo visitors.

The cage area is mostly underground from where the people are, and this hatch is how zookeepers can access the area if they need to lift large things (yes, including the polar bears themselves) in or out.

Checking out some polar bear treats–yummy!

It smelled like polar bears in there.

Huge thanks to Marie-Josée Côté, Christine Gagnon (our translator and behind-the-scenes tour guide), and the entire Zoo Sauvage family for making the day so special.