Salt (Salt) was born in 2009 and was different from day one.
At Polar Park, a sanctuary in Bardu, in northern Norway, this brown bear came into the world with albinism: a genetic condition so rare that it left her with an almost white coat, a pink nose, and pale eyes. Pepper (Pepper), her brother, was born alongside her with the traditional brown coloring of the species. The contrast between the two was so striking that the park staff had no hesitation about calling them Salt and Pepper.
Since then, Salt has become one of the place’s most beloved residents. Her unusual appearance made her famous throughout Norway as soon as she was born, and today she continues to captivate visitors with that rarity that makes her unique among her kind.
They grew up together, play together, and even bathe together in the park’s pond. Pepper, calm and playful, is afraid of wasps despite his size. Salt, by contrast, remains that pale apparition that seems plucked from an Arctic tale.