Video: Pizza still the ‘world’s saddest polar bear’
'Pizza' the polar bear spends much of his time lying on the ground.
New footage has revealed an animal dubbed the “world’s saddest polar bear” is still being housed in cruel conditions in a Chinese shopping mall.
Pizza the polar bear was brought to global attention after a UK wildlife park offered to take him away from what it labelled an inappropriately small and unnatural enclosure – but was rebuffed.
After the footage went viral, welfare group Animals Asia started a petition to close down the mini-aquarium, thus far gaining 700,000 signatures.
Now, new footage of Pizza frustratedly pacing around his bare enclosure has reignited the issue.
Released by groups Humane Society International (HSI) and VShine, the video shows Pizza displaying what one professor described as “stereotypical” signs of poor welfare and “mental decline”.
“The conditions in which he is being kept are completely unsuitable, vastly removed from anything approaching his natural habitat, and if something is not done then he will likely slip further and further into mental decline,” said Professor Alastair Macmillan, Humane Society International and U.K.’s veterinary adviser.
Professor Macmillan said head-swaying and pacing were classic signs of animal depression.
Watch the footage below:
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