By Matt Kyle | Assistant News Editor
Lady has reportedly been holding up well after her sister and fellow mascot, Joy, died on July 18. She has been going about her daily enrichments without any discomfort, staying strong after losing her companion of 20 years.
Dakota Farquhar-Caddell, associate director of student activities, said trainers have been giving extra attention to Lady in the past few weeks to ensure she is happy, healthy and at maximum comfort. The bear has received extra treats and plenty of toys, and with the excess heat in Waco, she has spent more time indoors where she can be more closely watched by her caretakers.
“We’ve been monitoring Lady because there is a wide range of experiences she can have,” Farquhar-Caddell said. “Lady has exhibited no out-of-the-ordinary characteristics or behaviors.”
For those who aren’t holding up so well in the wake of Joy’s passing, or for those who simply want to pay their respects, there will be a celebration of the beloved bear’s life over a three-day period from Sept. 1 to Sept. 3.
Farquhar-Caddell said hymns will be played from the McLane Carillon in the tower of Pat Neff Hall to honor Joy, and a memorial displaying information and pictures from Joy’s life will be put up at the bear habitat. He also said there will be an interactive mural that students can paint of Joy, taking a paintbrush to color in individual sections of a portrait of her.
Farquhar-Caddell said the vessel containing Joy’s ashes and the memorial will be taken to McLane Stadium and situated in Touchdown Alley for the Sept. 3 football game against Albany; Joy will be honored during the game, returning to a football game for the first time since 2009.
Farquhar-Caddell said bears are normally solitary creatures in the wild, so Joy and Lady living together in the Bill and Eva Williams Bear Habitat was a rare but “awesome” treat. He said the two siblings had a loving, friendly relationship and often snuggled and groomed each other while hanging out, rarely fighting.
Keller junior and co-lead bear trainer Griffin Hunt also said the sisters were loving and often played with one another, only ever fighting over food. He said Joy, the older sister by about a year, was the “alpha” in the relationship and would often be the one to start the sibling squabbles.
“In the winter, they’d like to nap close together, whether it’s inside or outside,” Hunt said. “The reason they would egg at each other or annoy each other was food-involved. It was all playful. If Joy finished her food first, she’d go into the south yard, and if Lady wasn’t finished, she would try to beat her there.”
Hunt said the sisters would yap at each other during these fights over food in a way he described as sounding like Chewbacca’s roar from “Star Wars.”
As both Joy and Lady have aged, Hunt and Farquhar-Caddell said a lot of effort has gone into making sure the bears were comfortable.
Both of the bears have experienced health issues; Lady had her cancer scares that generated a documentary, and Joy had her arthritis and spine compressions that ultimately led to the decision to put her down. In their 20s, both bears are nearing the average lifespan of bears in the wild, though bears in captivity can live up to 50 years if in good health.
“They’re geriatric bears,” Hunt said. “It is our job, and we’re going to make sure that their last day is not their worst day.”
Farquhar-Caddell said in her last days, Joy got to eat like a queen.
“She got a buffet of her favorite foods basically nonstop,” Farquhar-Caddell said.
Joy got to drink a Dr Pepper float — her first taste of Dr Pepper ever — as well as eat fresh salmon and cod, avocados, cherries, peanut butter and honey. She even ate a rival mascot.
“[Joy] got some frog legs,” Farquhar-Caddell said. “She had to make sure she got the last word against TCU.”
While she recovered fully from the first-of-their-kind surgeries she received to remove tumors and her health is well, Lady continues to age. Farquhar-Caddell said she will be transitioned to a retirement facility at the off-campus enrichment facility the bears would go to weekly.
The retirement facility is currently under construction and is anticipated to be completed by next spring or summer. Farquhar-Caddell said it will be similar to the on-campus habitat and will be connected to the fields of the already existing enrichment facility, giving Lady plenty of room for exercise. He also said a dedicated team will work with Lady daily for enrichment and training.
“It’s basically a state-of-the-art vacation home,” Farquhar-Caddell said. “It’ll have inside enclosures, outdoor yard space, water features, the whole nine yards to make sure she lives the high life in retirement.
Lady will be moved to the retirement facility after Baylor gets some new cubs. Farquhar-Caddell said Baylor will work with a few animal care organizations to find bear cubs in need of a new home.
Farquhar-Caddell said that the new cubs would start receiving enrichment soon after arriving on campus and that the cubs would hopefully become the second pair of bears to live on Baylor’s campus for the entirety of their lives, after Joy and Lady.
Hunt said that it has been strange without Joy but that she is in a better place. He said he is excited at the idea of training new cubs who will be Baylor’s mascots to connect with the next generation of students.
“Taking the lead on training new cubs — it’s something that if you told me freshman year that I’d be doing, I wouldn’t believe you,” Hunt said. “A lot of people’s first interaction with Baylor is because of the bear. When there’s new cubs, it’s a cool thing to come back 10 years later when they’re fully grown.”
