(SG) Fwd: Singapore zoo says it will keep polar bear despite animal rights concerns

[Guest guest]

animal_net , <MaryFinelli wrote:

 

The Singapore Zoo said Friday it will keep its male

> polar bear - reportedly the only polar bear to be born in the

tropics

> - in a reversal of its earlier decision to move it to a temperate

> country, while animal rights activists urged the zoo to improve

> conditions in the bear's enclosure.

>

> The zoo's parent company, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said its

animal

> welfare and ethics committee had recommended that Inuka, the

> 17-year-old bear, remain at the Southeast Asian zoo because of the

> risks involved in moving it.

>

> " The transport of a full grown polar bear to an institution in a

> temperate country will be a stressful situation and carries its own

> share of risks, most extreme being that Inuka may die during

> transportation or during the introduction process in the new

> facility, " the company said in a statement.

>

> The zoo had said last year that Inuka would be moved to a country

with

> a temperate climate after his mother dies, following a Singapore

> animal rights group's complaints that the bears were showing signs

of

> distress.

>

> --

> full story:

> http://www.news1130.com/news/international/article.jsp?

content=w050417A