A polar bear that had to be rescued after its previous zoo closed has arrived at one of Suffolk's favourite wildlife parks.
Jimmy's Farm in Wherstead, near Ipswich, is now home to Ewa – pronounced Eva – the polar bear who has been rehomed from Orsa Predator Park in Sweden.
In a process that started almost a year ago, she arrived at the wildlife park last week to a specially created facility.
READ MORE: How Ewa the polar bear came to Suffolk
Ewa's new home will be Europe's largest polar bear reserve, and will open to the public on Saturday, October 21.
"It's pretty epic. It's been incredible to watch all of our team, our counterparts in Sweden and leading world experts involved pull this together," said TV presenter Jimmy Doherty, who owns the farm.
Polar bear expert Doug Richardson made the farm aware of the news that the park in Sweden would be closing and turned into a leisure facility.
Had the team not stepped in, Ewa, along with many other of the remaining animals, would have been put to sleep.
Mr Doherty added: "Twenty-one years ago when we started the farm it was all about preserving rare breeds.
"We've always taken on endangered species that have had nowhere else to go. Then we heard about this and said 'if we do it, then we've got to build something that is world class.’
"Now, here in Suffolk, we have the largest polar bear reserve in Europe.”
"There hasn't been a purpose built polar bear reserve in southern England for about 100 years."
Huge amounts of research have gone into the facility, with staff at the Wherstead attraction having taken their time to consult several national and international experts.
The new Tundra reserve will welcome a host of new animals alongside Ewa including the largest pack of 13 Arctic wolves in the UK, which have been rehomed from Cumbria Wildlife Park, the resident herd of reindeer and Arctic foxes.
The new area will be called ‘The Lost Lands of the Tundra’.
The effort continues to try and rescue Diego, a brown bear, with a crowdfunder campaign recently launched.
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