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

At a workshop on the Behavioural Needs of Bears in Captivity, held as part ofthe First European Conference on the Status, Conservation and Welfare ofBears in Captivity in 1991, it was stressed that, because of the animals’ highlevel of intelligence, novel objects and situations that keep the bears alertand their behaviour flexible should be provided. 82 Sensory stimuli, includingolfactory stimulation and a soft environment, were considered a priority. 82The provision of enclosure furniture, natural substrates and varied feedingtechniques as forms of enrichment have been discussed previously. Thissection will deal with the concept of an environmental enrichmentprogramme employing other behavioural enrichment techniques involvingnon-fixed items and other stimuli.Enrichment for the polar bears at Singapore ZooThe enrichment programme for the polar bears at Singapore Zoo appears tobe very restricted and of limited benefit to the bears. While someenrichment is provided, the bears interact with it for only short periods oftime.There were some play objects seen inside the polar bear enclosure duringthe course of the study. These objects were rubber vehicle tires, plasticballs tied on a rope, barrels and plastic tubes. Exactly the same objectswere observed to be present in the enclosure on every visit. The objects allappeared to be very worn and were all covered in teeth marks. No otherevidence of a day-to-day enrichment programme, in the form of provision ofnew objects, was witnessed.The Polar Bear Protection Act, Manitoba, requires that those establishmentsholding polar bears must establish a written behavioural enrichmentprogramme designed to stimulate and encourage natural behaviour in thepolar bear. 11The guidelines written by zoo associations and animal welfare organisationsall stress the importance of behavioural enrichment programmes and givedetailed information about various enrichment techniques that should beused for bears (Appendix VII). It is frequently emphasized that behaviouralenrichment is only effective if stimuli/objects are frequently changed.The Singapore Zoo polar bears were seen to have the same play objectson every visit. All the guidelines stress the importance of using a variety ofobjects and stimuli and strongly recommend using feeding enrichmenttechniques. The ABWAK and WSPA guidelines recommend that at least tenobjects should be available to polar bears at all times. The Singapore Zoopolar bears were seen to have about half this number of objects.What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?62www.acres.org.sg