This article was written by Karrissa
Just over 100 years ago, when Britain was at war with Germany in World War 1,
Canadian soldiers went to Europe to help Britain.
One of those soldiers was Lieutenant Harry Colebourn from Winnipeg. Harry
had always loved animals and he became a veterinarian. Horses were still used
in war in those days, so Harry joined the Fort Garry Horse cavalry regiment as a
veterinary officer.
He was travelling on the train on his way to sail to England, when the train
stopped at a little town called White River, in Ontario. Harry got off the train to
stretch his legs, and there he saw a man with a black bear cub, no more than
seven months old, for sale.
Harry fell in love with the cub and bought her for $20. He called the cub
‘Winnipeg’ after his home town, but soon shortened it to ‘Winnie’.
Harry spent many weeks training with other soldiers and Winnie proved a trusty companion. Harry
trained Winnie with rewards of apples and a mixture of condensed milk and corn syrup. The cub slept
under his cot and followed him around like a puppy. When not climbing tent poles or playing with her
owner, the gentle bear posed for photographs with soldiers and became the regiment’s mascot.
When Harry sailed for England, Winnie went too; however, after a few weeks Harry had to go over to
France to join the fighting. He could not take Winnie into battle, so he took her to a new home at the
London Zoo.
The war went on for a long time, but whenever Harry had leave, he visited Winnie in her new home.
Although she had grown from cub into bear, Winnie remained as gentle as ever. The zookeeper said
that Winnie was “quite the gentlest bear we have ever had at the zoo.” People would knock on her
door and she would open it and come out. Children were allowed to enter the bear pit to ride on
Winnie’s back, feed her out of their hands and even have birthday parties with her!
After the war was over, Harry felt he should leave Winnie in her new home because the children loved
her so much. One of those children was a boy called Christopher Robin. He visited Winnie as often as his
father could take him; Winnie would hug him and he fed her
with spoonsful of condensed milk. He even changed the
name of his own teddy bear, Edward, to Winnie.
Later, Christopher Robin’s father A.A. Milne, who was an
author, started to write stories about Winnie for his son; all
Christopher Robin’s other toys became Pooh’s friends living
in the Hundred Acre Wood.
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