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

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What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?72www.acres.org.sg
CHAPTER 7GLOBAL PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT7.1 The phasing out of polar bears in captivityBecause of the innate difficulties of providing the spacious and stimulatingenvironment required by captive bears, many zoos, including those in theUnited Kingdom, no longer hold bears in their collections or have decidednot to replace current stock after the bears die. 86 This situation is perhapsmost apparent in the case of polar bears.Polar bears are one of the species for which the effects of captivity havebeen studied in detail. 36,37,38 The results of such studies have highlighted theubiquitous incidence of abnormal behaviour for polar bears in captivity andhighlighted the immense difficulties in meeting the needs of this species in acaptive environment.Even at progressive, professionally-managed zoos, there remain severeproblems with polar bears displaying abnormal behaviours. Regardless ofwhether or not enclosures fulfil the various recommendations for polarbears, stereotypic and abnormal behaviours still prevail. 38 In a study of polarbear behaviour in British zoos, it was found that the design or size ofenclosures did not have any significant influence on incidences ofstereotypic behaviour. 38 Even for the bears living in the largest enclosure inthis study, four different stereotypic behaviours and apathetic behaviourwere recorded. In another large enclosure which followed the layoutsuggested as being the most suitable for polar bears (level, with raised areasand containing few rocks), the stereotypic behaviours observed were asextreme as anywhere else. 38 These observations strongly indicate that, forpolar bears, simply changing the layout/design and increasing the size ofenclosure is still not enough to eradicate or even limit the occurrence ofabnormal behaviours.The question therefore remains; will there ever be an enclosure adequateenough to prevent or eliminate stereotypic behaviour in polar bears? Anevaluation of all of the evidence leads to a resounding no. Certainly at thispoint in time no one has come close to designing an enclosure that meetsthe needs of polar bears and, because of the nature of this species, it isdoubtful that anyone ever will.Zoos in the United Kingdom have been phasing out the keeping of polarbears in recent years. Since the 1990s, six zoos in the United Kingdom havestopped keeping polar bears.What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?73www.acres.org.sg
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individual’s own choices. This ab
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Following his investigations into t
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What’s a polar bear doing in the
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Accommodation20 All animal accommod
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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 40 and 41: What’s a polar bear doing in the
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 56 and 57: problem with these old designs is t
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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