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

The provision of naturalsubstrates, either naturalground vegetation or areas ofloose natural materials or both,is a common recommendation inthe guidelines of zooassociations and animal welfareorganisations (Appendix IV).Singapore Zoo does not appearto implement any of theserecommendations in terms ofproviding natural substratesfor the polar bears.Past studies have providedevidence of a preference forsoft substrates exhibited bypolar bears. For example, in onedocumented case at Dublin Zoo,a polar bear was seen to spendeighty per cent of his time inthe sand and bark litterfollowing modification of hisenclosure to include areas ofthese substrates. 13ConcreteAs a substrate, concrete fails to providefor any species-specific behaviours such asdigging or foraging. Lack of suitablesubstrate for these behaviours is a seriouswelfare issue as it limits the opportunitiesavailable to the bears to be activelyinvolved in activities such as digging. Ithas been suggested that animals kept inan environment with little or nothing tooccupy their time often show abnormalbehaviour. 70Concrete is also particularly unsuitablesubstrate for polar bears, a speciesnotorious for pacing, as contact with thishard substrate may lead to abrasions andsores on the polar bears’ feet, or footpadulcerations commonly observed in animalsexhibiting stereotypic pacing on concretesurfaces. 71 Another problem with usingconcrete as a substrate, especially in atropical climate, is that it radiates heat inhot weather, 8 thus subjecting the bears toextremes of temperature. Concreteflooring is therefore a serious welfareissue for the polar bears at Singaporezoo.The provision of naturalsubstrates such as earth, sand orwood chips can lower the thermal load on animals. 8,72Natural substratessuch as earth and wood chips are also desirable as substrates in terms oftheir manipulability and, unlike concrete, do not carry the risk of bearssplitting their claws. 8In the absence of snow to roll in, captive polar bears also require softsubstrates to effectively dry their fur after coming out of the water. 10The importance of the provision of natural substrates for polar bears is socrucial that the Polar Bear Protection Act, Manitoba, requires that polarbear enclosures contain an area of soft substrate measuring at least125m². 11 Singapore Zoo does not meet this requirement.What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?53www.acres.org.sg