What's a Polar Bear Doing in the Tropics? - Animal Concerns ...

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problem with these old designs is that they do not meet the bear’s needs onsome very basic levels.The outdoor enclosure of the polar bears comprises a dry cement peninsulaand a pool. The dry cement area is completely barren apart from a fewboulders and therefore lacks any complexity. The outdoor enclosure isconcrete and there is therefore no natural ground vegetation, trees orbushes. There are no natural substrates provided and no furniture other thanthe artificial boulders.Clearly, the outdoor enclosure atSingapore Zoo does not fulfillmany of the requirements andrecommendations stated by thevarious zoo associations andanimal welfare organisations(Appendix II) in terms of providingthe essential components of apolar bear enclosure. It is hard tosee how the enclosure atSingapore Zoo can accommodatefor a full behavioural repertoirewhen there are clearly nopossibilities for foraging, digging,climbing and resting in naturalsubstrates.Legislation regarding enclosure designPolar Bear Protection Act, Manitoba 11• The exhibit should be of sufficientsize and design to discourage thedevelopment of unnaturalbehaviours, enable the animal(s) toexercise a range of physicalactivities to maintain good physicalcondition and facilitate publicinterpretation.• The indoor areas of a facility musthave skylights to provide naturallighting. Any artificial lighting in afacility must be of an intensity thatdoes not threaten the well-being andcomfort of the polar bear.Furthermore, there is no choice ofmicroclimate provided for the bears, and their limited view out of theenclosure is restricted to the areas where visitors stand.Many of the guidelines recommend a minimum of two separate outdoorenclosures to house two polar bears for segregation purposes. At SingaporeZoo there is only one enclosure.Both the TAG and WSPA guidelines recommend that the ratio of water toland must not exceed 1:3. At Singapore Zoo the surface area of the pool islarger than the dry land portion of the exhibit. Polar bears are bears firstand marine mammals second, 10 so the enclosure design should reflect this,which it clearly does not.Overall, the outdoor exhibit gets a failing grade for polar bears accordingto Poulsen (2005). 10What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?50www.acres.org.sg
Off-exhibit areaThe bears spend the vast majority of their time in the indoor enclosures,therefore the standard of these facilities is critical for the overall well-beingof the bears. According to Poulsen (2005), the back areas for the bears arewholly substandard. 10 The area where the indoor cages are located isdescribed as dark and humid with no natural light. The bears cannot see outof the indoor dens. 10The off-exhibit area for the bears does not comply with the Polar BearProtection Act, Manitoba, standards which state that indoor areas must havenatural lighting.The indoor areas clearly do not fulfill many of the requirements andrecommendations stated by the various zoo associations and animal welfareorganisations (see Appendices). WSPA guidelines state that dens that arebare, damp and with a concrete floor are not acceptable. They recommendthat indoor facilities should be as interesting and hospitable as outdoorquarters with elevated resting platforms and they should allow for entry ofnatural light. ABWAK guidelines state for indoor accommodation, bearsshould be able to view beyond their enclosure boundary (Appendix II).What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?51www.acres.org.sg
Page 16 and 17: animal is diving. They also eat car
Page 18 and 19: individual’s own choices. This ab
Page 20 and 21: Following his investigations into t
Page 22 and 23: What’s a polar bear doing in the
Page 24 and 25: Accommodation20 All animal accommod
Page 26 and 27: Table 3.1 Categories of behaviours
Page 28 and 29: TABLE 3.5 Lying flat behaviour prof
Page 30 and 31: 3.2.1 Adaptation to Arctic coldPola
Page 32 and 33: 3.2.2 Reasons for panting and lying
Page 34 and 35: 3.2.3 Heat stress experienced in Si
Page 36 and 37: the pool area. However, theeffectiv
Page 38 and 39: 3.2.4 Algal growth in furInuka cove
Page 42 and 43: Table 4.1 Categories of behaviours
Page 44 and 45: TABLE 4.4 Activity pattern of Sheba
Page 46 and 47: TABLE 4.6 Abnormal behaviour profil
Page 48 and 49: 4.2.1 Prevalence of abnormal stereo
Page 50 and 51: to more space, a more complex, quie
Page 52 and 53: Guidelines and LegislationsGuidelin
Page 54 and 55: equirements stated in the Province
Page 58 and 59: SubstrateThe polar bear enclosure d
Page 60 and 61: In the 2004 report, Acresrecommende
Page 62 and 63: FurnitureThe enclosure does not pro
Page 64 and 65: Private areasThe lack of private ar
Page 66 and 67: 5.1.2 Problems in husbandryUse/acce
Page 68 and 69: At a workshop on the Behavioural Ne
Page 70 and 71: disintegrating objects in an enclos
Page 72 and 73: interesting. At no time were the be
Page 74 and 75: 5.2.3 Condition of teeth 10Sheba ha
Page 76 and 77: demonstrating species-appropriate b
Page 80 and 81: Today there is just one polar bear
Page 84 and 85: Providing natural substrates in enc
Page 86 and 87: Stimulating olfactory and rubbing b
Page 90 and 91: Singapore Zoo states that they are
Page 92 and 93: 22. Wood, D. 1995. Bears. Whitecap
Page 94 and 95: 66. Baars, D. and Weegenaar, A. 199
Page 96 and 97: APPENDIX I: GUIDELINES FOR ENCLOSUR
Page 98 and 99: • For polar bears the ratio of wa
Page 100 and 101: APPENDIX IV: GUIDELINES FOR SUBSTRA
Page 102 and 103: APPENDIX VI: GUIDELINES FOR PRIVATE
Page 104 and 105: • Environmental enrichment should

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