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Letters | Why China’s polar bear hotel is just about animal cruelty
- Keeping polar bears in cruel captivity only serves motives of entertainment and profit
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I was disheartened to read about the new Harbin Polar Land in “Wonders of Nature” (March 13), highlighting its polar bear hotel for “allowing guests to sleep next to the animals behind reinforced glass.” In other words, the polar bears are forced to live in a small, unnatural environment, limited to pacing a few metres in each direction so visitors can watch them up close.
In their natural habitat, polar bears are excellent long-distance swimmers and, whether on land or in water, they can travel for days at a time with only short rest stops. Research shows they are capable of travelling at least 30km a day to several hundred kilometres over several days.
In this park, they are imprisoned in a small space, with food deprivation and rewards likely to be the methods used to train them to perform tricks. They will show unnatural, repetitive behaviour – nothing you would ever see in the wild.
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The polar bear hotel does not promote “education and research”, as local officials claim; this is animal cruelty. This venue is no different from places such as Ocean Park or SeaWorld in the United States, which use “education and research” to justify keeping cetaceans in small tanks, when in reality this is for entertainment and profit.
03:04
Chinese hotel with polar bear enclosure opens amid criticism
Chinese hotel with polar bear enclosure opens amid criticism
If education and research are the objectives, we can teach our children about animals using documentary films and books, and see these animals in the wild. We may not have polar bears in Hong Kong but we have many other amazing species.
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