'World's Saddest Polar Bear' >> Kept in Shopping Centre
> Finally Sees Some Sunlight
'World's saddest polar bear' Pizza at the Grandview Mall in China Credit: Feature China / Barcroft
AP, 20 November 2016
The 'world's saddest polar bear' has been removed from a shopping centre in China where he 'suffered for selfies'.
Pizza, who was kept in an aquarium at China’s Grandview Mall, has been moved to an undisclosed ocean park in North China, where he was born, to reunite with his parents.
However, Grandview say the move is only a temporary one while they renovate Pizza's enclosure.
More than a million people signed a petition calling for Pizza to be removed from Grandview Mall after footage emerged of him showing "signs of mental distress", according to an animal rights group.
Humane Society International (HSI) and its Chinese animal group partner, Capital Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), urged Grandview to make the move a permanent one.
He has been dubbed "the world's saddest polar bear" Credit: Feature China / Barcroft
Pizza Credit: Feature China / Barcroft
Peter Li, from the HSI, said that Pizza would "at last feel the sun on his fur, sniff fresh air and see the sky above him".
"Pizza the polar bear has endured a life of deprivation and suffering in his small, artificial, glass-fronted room at the shopping mall, so the news that he’s getting out at last makes me very happy and relieved for him. But we implore the mall to make this a permanent move for Pizza," he said.
"No amount of renovation could ever make a shopping mall a suitable place for this animal, and to send him back now would be cruel and heartless. We commend the mall for being gracious enough to listen to Chinese and global voices of concern, and hope they will do the right thing for this poor bear who has already been through enough."
Mdm Qin, director of CAWA, added: "It’s a good decision, the right decision for Pizza, but it’s not the end. Temporary is not good enough. Now we hope that Grandview will learn from this episode and move Pizza permanently so that he never again has to endure the dreadful life in a shopping mall."
Professor Alastair Macmillan, a veterinary adviser for the HSI, said last month that Pizza was showing signs of ‘mental decline’ in a clip recorded at Grandview.
“This polar bear is showing classic stereotypical behaviour, including head swaying and repetitive pacing, induced by frustration and poor welfare,” he said.
In August, the last surviving animals were rescued from the 'world’s worst zoo' displaying stuffed carcasses.
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While This Chain-Smoking Chimpanzee Has Become The 'Gawker' Attraction of a Newly Renovated Zoo in North Korea.
A chain-smoking chimpanzee has become the 'gawker' attraction of a newly renovated zoo in North Korea criticised by animal rights activists.
Azalea, a 19-year-old female chimpanzee, usually smokes 20 cigarettes a day at the zoo in the Pyongyang capital of Kim Jong-un' secretive state.
The Associated Press (AP) witnessed the chimp even lighting her own cigarettes using a lighter tossed into her cage by a trainer.
Animal rights groups have criticised the zoo Credit: AP/Wong Maye-E
Officials at the zoo claim Azalea, whose name in Korean is "Dallae", doesn’t actually inhale the cigarette smoke.
AP witnessed entertained visitors at the zoo laughing as Azalea’s trainer encouraged her to smoke the cigarettes.
The trainer also prompted her to touch her nose, bow thank you and do a simple dance.
Animal rights group, the (ALDF), criticised the zoo for keeping the animals to ‘attract gawkers’.
“This exemplifies the problem with any captive wildlife displayed for profit,” said Carter Dillard, Director of Litigation for the ALDF. “They are made to do unnatural and freakish things to attract gawkers.
“The good news is that the civilised world is moving away from this, like the gradual elimination of orcas from places like Seaworld.”
Elisa Allen, Director PETA UK, said: “If we really needed any more proof that zoos are motivated by profit and not animal welfare, this is surely it.
“Smoking is as dangerous to Azalea the chimpanzee as it is to humans, and yet her ‘caretakers’ facilitate her habit – just for the sake of a few cheap laughs and more bodies coming through the gates.
“Anyone who cares about protecting animals should donate to programmes that help them in their natural habitats, where they're free to engage in natural behaviour, and stay away from these glorified prisons that objectify sensitive animals.”
Azalea lights a cigarette Credit: AP
Renovations of Pyongyang zoo, also known as Korea Central Zoo, began in 2014 and it reopened in July.
The zoo has been previously been criticised by travel guide Lonely Planet, who described the animals inside looking ‘pretty forlorn’.
“Worst off are the big cats, nearly all gifts of long-dead communist bigwigs around the world – the wonderful lions, tigers and leopards are kept in woefully inadequate compounds and many have lost the plot as a result. The zoo’s two elephants and its hippo all look exceptionally lacklustre as well,” they noted.
Azalea smokes a pack of cigarettes a day Credit: AP
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