Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Polar bear eating pumpkin – Photo courtesy of Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat

 

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network.

Polar Bear Gleefully Eating a 1,400-Pound Pumpkin Donated for His Dinner is a Sight to Behold

By Andy Corbley –

It’s not every day that Henry the polar bear sees something that weighs more than he does.

At 1,200 pounds, the polar bear is the world’s largest land predator, but here was something substantially heavier, and it was just sitting there in his enclosure.

Henry the polar bear eating pumpkin – Photo courtesy of Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat

Defensive at first, Henry eventually dug into the sweet, crunchy flesh of a giant, 1,400 lbs. pumpkin that was donated to the nonprofit that looks after him. The photos will steal a chuckle out of anyone.

Reported first by CTV News, the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat received the pumpkin as a total coincidence, and the organization’s manager, Amy Baxendell-Young, told the outlet how it happened.

“One of my staff was driving up from down south and ended up directly behind this pumpkin as it was on the highway,” she said.

Her staff member gave her a call and said that the truck carrying the massive gourd had a logo on the side: Aidie Creek Gardens. Baxendell-Young decided to call them up.

“And pretty quickly they got back to me and said, if we don’t take it, it’s just going in the compost. Henry actually came out and didn’t know what it was—and got actually quite defensive … because I think he was just quite shocked at this new thing in his enclosure.”

Evolved to eat mostly baby seals, which are all fat, a polar bear can zoom through a pumpkin without putting on any weight at all. Unlike for humans, for whom a pumpkin or squash is a complex carb with polyphenols and fiber, for a bear, it’s all empty calories.

Henry having eaten his fill – Photo courtesy of Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat

The Cochrane Habitat in Ontario is the world’s only nonprofit organization that provides sanctuary to polar bears in need of human care and who can’t live in the wild anymore. They often receive presents for their bears around Polar Bear Awareness Week.

Photos released by the habitat show Henry in something of a food coma after smashing around a third of the pumpkin in one sitting.

The good news in this story is reading about a very happy Polar Bear. Today’s JohnKu talks about happiness. I hope you have a lovely weekend.

A small Measure by John W. Howell © 2025

It doesn’t take much.

Happiness is a matter . . .

Of joy in small chunks

83 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  1. So funny. Thanks for sharing, and enjoy a wonderful weekend! John, i hope you also will gift your two home predators with pumpkins. 😉 i am sure after the first contact the living room will look like a scene from a horro movie. Lol xx Michael

    Liked by 2 people

      1. I wasn’t sure what a Dubai cake was so I researched it and WOW, it sounds fantastic. And, of course the chocolate and pistachios makes it healthy 😉. I just might have to indulge, myself.

        Liked by 1 person

  25. So happy for Henry and so grateful there are folks out there ready to bring simple happiness to creatures, especially those whose habitat is shrinking due to climate change. Thanks for bringing this good news story today. I needed it, John!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. OMG, I love this. I adore polar bears. I’ve never met one, but if one tries to crash Twiggy and Tempeste’s yard, they should befriend it… and the rhino.

    Thank goodness there are those around to take care of animals that can’t take care of themselves anymore.

    With global warming, the Polar Bears are in trouble. It’s nice to see a happy one.

    Lovely JohnKu, thank you John!

    🐻‍❄️X 🐻‍❄️X🐻‍❄️X 🐻‍❄️X

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Agree!
        Still, it must be moot to care about the planet, when securing food is a daily chore and clean water is scarce.

        I know everything is at odds with itself.
        Nothing makes people not care about tomorrow like grinding poverty.

        You might think I’m crazy, but imo the planet is overcrowded. The planet cannot keep up with the food needs of humans and the abject waste we create.

        Many hard core religious beliefs will not allow for birth control. The eating of animals is unnecessary in today’s world, considering current nutritional health/dietary info.
        1 acre of land to feed 1 vegetarian for 1 year.
        5 acres of land to feed 1 meat based diet person per year.
        Plastic.
        As we can see, people won’t change, so the planet is.
        Gee, I’m yakky this morning!
        OX OX OX OX

        Liked by 1 person

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