This is the story of Pizza, the world's saddest polar bear
Pizza is not happy. At least that is what animal welfare advocates are saying as they band together to protest the living conditions of "the world's saddest polar bear," which is housed in an aquarium in a shopping mall in China, The New York Times reports. "Animals deserve so much better than being enclosed in a glass box, with very little in it, to attract shoppers. It shows a complete lack of regard for their welfare," said Hu Chunmei of the Endangered Species Fund.
It isn't uncommon in China for malls to have "zoos," an attraction that brings in physical customers during an age when online shopping is booming. The Grandview Mall in Guangdong Province, where Pizza the polar bear lives, also houses arctic wolves and beluga whales.
A photo posted by aleonalynx (@aleonalynx) on Mar 23, 2016 at 4:28am PDT
Pizza has shown signs of distress in his enclosure, and 48 organizations signed an open letter to the province's governor insisting that something be done. Yorkshire Wildlife Park in England has even offered to take Pizza in, although Grandview Mall declined.
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The mall management claims Pizza has adapted to his living conditions, and accused those who disagree of following the agenda of foreigners. "They say, 'You are using a Western point of view' in order to oppose us," Qin Xiaona of the Capital Animal Welfare Association said. "But we can't forget that we have a tradition in China of 'respecting heaven, caring for animals.'"
