Tompa from Yakutia: Muscovites chose the name for a polar bear brought to the zoo

Participants of the “Active Citizen” project chose the name for a polar bear brought from Yakutia to the Moscow Zoo for health correction.

Two options were available: Tompa and Aitalina. The first name is consonant with the Tomponsky district where the bear was found, and the second means “the fate of the journey”in the Yakut language. One could also offer their own version.

More than 162 thousand people took part in the voting. The majority (44.12 percent) of participants decided that the bear’s name would be Tompa. 37.75 percent of respondents voted for the name Aitalina.

Over 10 thousand people suggested other variants of the name. Almost a fifth of them considered that the bear should be named Umka. Among other options were Snowflake, Masha, Gerda, Yakutochka, Snowwhite and Taiga. Another 11.59 percent of the voters found it difficult to answer.

“Over 10 thousand Muscovites offered their own versions of the name, but the majority of those who voted supported the name Tompa. It is not the first time that users of the “Active Citizen” choose a name for zoo inhabitants. Another rescued bear that Muscovites chose to be named Khatanga, also lives there,” said Alexander Pishchelko, head of the state institution “New Management Technologies.

Rescuers found Tompa exhausted, it could not hunt on its own. The bear was taken first to the Yakut Zoo, and later to Moscow. Medical examination revealed the bear to be female and aged from three to five years. Since May, she is living in the Moscow Zoo. The animal feels great, swims perfectly, and catches fish in a special pool.

The “Active Citizen” project was established in 2014. Since then over five million people joined it, with almost two million in 2020 alone. The project members decide which streets, courtyards and parks need to be improved, how city polyclinics, libraries, multifunctional centers should work, and also choose projects for festivals and holidays. Since the project start Muscovites took part in more than five thousand votes. Decisions supported by the majority are implemented in the city.

The online map shows sites that appeared and were changed in Moscow thanks to the votes — over 1.6 thousand facilities are plotted on it. One can also evaluate the changes that took place in the city in the section “The Pulse of the Capital”. Since the end of last year, the “Active Citizens” have the opportunity to use the score accumulated in the project for charity purposes.

The project “Active Citizen” is being developed by the Moscow Department of Information Technologies and the State Institution “New Management Technologies”.