ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide. Founded in 1992, ANIMAL PEOPLE has no alignment or affiliation with any other entity.

 

This site built and maintained by: GREANVILLE ASSOCIATESand CRESCENT COMMUNICATIONS •Rev. 12.1.05 Copyright ANIMAL PEOPLE, INC. 1992--2006

 

 

 

 

 
   

 
powered by FreeFind

ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: October 2006

No more polar bears at Singapore Zoo

 

SINGAPORE--Singapore Zoo director Fanny Lai told Reuters on September 7, 2006 that the zoo will no longer exhibit Arctic and Antarctic animals after the eventual death of Sheba, 29, the elder of the two polar bears on exhibit at the zoo.

 

Singapore is located just north of the equator.

 

Lai told Reuters that she has asked the Rostock Zoo in Germany, manager of the global captive polar bear survival plan, to find a more suitable home for Inuka, 16, who is to be moved after Sheba dies.
Lai denied that the decision was prompted by the September 6 release of the findings of a four-month undercover investigation by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society.

 

"From September until December 2005," said ACRES president Louis Ng, "both bears exhibited signs of severe heat stress. The bears were both seen panting for long periods (Inuka: 36.0% of the time; Sheba: 38.7% of the time). Both bears engaged in abnormal stereotypic behaviour (Inuka: 64.5% of the active periods; Sheba: 56.8% of the active periods). Both polar bears displayed inactivity (Inuka: 42.5% of the time; Sheba: 64.6% of the time).

 

"The bears cannot simply 'adapt' to life in hot climates," Ng argued. "Wherever they are in captivity, they will still possess physiological adaptations to life in the Arctic."

 

ANIMAL PEOPLE spotlighted the bears' plight in a July/August 2005 cover feature, based on a site visit, entitled "White tigers, green polar bears, & maintaining a world-class zoo."

 

Both of the Singapore Zoo polar bears, a mother and son, are green from algae growing in their translucent hair shafts.

 

Opened in June 1973, the Singapore Zoo and adjacent Night Safari were the hugely successful evident models for the Chiang Mai Zoo and the recently opened Chiang Mai Night Safari Zoo in Thailand.