SG Zoo Polar Bear Full of Algae - Victim of Cost Cutting + Insatiable FAP Greed?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

ONE WORLD WILDLIFE: SINGAPORE ZOO IS STILL NEGLECTING THEIR POLAR BEARS

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24 Sep 2014 - 4:07pm








Inuka, prize exhibit at Singapore Zoo suffers 24 hrs a day in the heat, with algae all over him.

It's totally unacceptable to force an animal, designed for -50 temperatures to live in the tropics with the heat, humidity and the atmospheric pollution due to palm plantations being burned off in neighbouring countries.

Inuka's fur in the high temperatures is turning green with algae growing in the hollow fibres of his guard hairs. Inuka is 23 years old and has always lived at Singapore Zoo, until recently with his mother Sheba who has since died.

In 2004, Inuka and his mother had algae growing on their hair shafts and visitors thought that the zoo actually painted them green. The zoo said that the algae was harmless and singled out the hot, humid climate as the cause. To remove the algae, the zoo first sprayed Sheba with hydrogen peroxide and later sprayed Inuka.

That same year in 2004, controversies started over the polar bear enclosure at the zoo and Inuka and Sheba's behaviour. The enclosure was a mere size of 391 m² compared to its huge Arctic habitat which can spread an area of over 80,000 km².

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) discussed with the zoo a proposal to move Inuka to a temperate country zoo. The society also claimed that Sheba and he were showing signs of behavioural and physical distress such as signs of heat stress, high levels of inactivity, high levels of abnormal stereotypical behaviour, and performing unusual behaviours such as waving and ringing a bell at feeding shows. Acres claimed that the pool's temperature was at 17°C much higher than the water conditions in the Arctic. Acres asked the zoo again to improve his enclosure.

The Singapore Zoo said the bears were kept in good conditions citing that Inuka was born in the tropics. It will not import anymore Arctic animals as it is planning to become a rainforest themed zoo. The zoo also spent S$200,000 upgrading the polar bears' facilities, installing another air-conditioner in the den and adding misting fans and netted shades over the enclosure to keep it at 22°C.







Sheba died on 15 November 2012 at the age of 35 and had been under treatment since September 2012 for loss of strength in her hind limbs, but her condition worsened and had to be put down after a close evaluation showed that her prognosis was poor.

In May 2007, the Singapore Zoo announced that Inuka will stay at the zoo even after Sheba dies, contrary to the earlier decision to send him to a temperate-country zoo when that happens. The decision was made on the recommendation of the zoo's Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee.

One World Wildlife
One World Wildlife is a non-profit organization that funds projects which protect threatened wildlife & habitats.


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