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  Today Online 7 May 07
Condemn Inuka to a lonely life?
Letter from Eddy Tanumihardja

The Straits Times 7 May 07
Improve living conditions for Inuka the polar bear
Letter from Louis Ng Kok Kwang
Executive Director Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres)

I REFER to the article, 'Inuka the polar bear to stay on in sunny S'pore' (ST, May 3).

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) commends Singapore Zoo for reaffirming that it will not be importing any more polar bears.

However, if Inuka is to remain in tropical Singapore, we strongly urge the zoo to consider drastically improving the living conditions and raising them to meet international standards.

In response to an e-mail about the small size of the polar bear enclosure, the Singapore Zoo did previously acknowledge that this point raised about space constraints for the polar bears was valid.

The current polar-bear enclosure fails to meet the minimum standards laid out in the Polar Bear Protection Act, which was made law by the Government of Manitoba, Canada, in 2003. The Singapore Zoo enclosure fails both in terms of size and design.

These guidelines outline the minimum standards of care and husbandry that must be followed by those institutions housing polar bears. These strict guidelines must be met by any zoo wishing to acquire a polar bear from Manitoba.

Indeed, if Singapore Zoo today wanted to acquire polar bears from Manitoba, the government, by law, could not allow it.

Acres notes that both Inuka and Sheba are still displaying abnormal stereotypic behaviours (pacing and swimming in circles). These behaviours in captive animals have been associated with poor welfare for five decades.

For most wild mammals in captivity, this probably means that the animal grew up in or is currently living in an environment suboptimal for meeting its natural, species-specific behavioural needs.

The Singapore Zoo must make every effort to improve the welfare of the polar bears and eliminate these stereotypic behaviours.

This recommendation is in line with one of the conclusions in a report by researchers from Oxford University which stated that polar bears and other wide-ranging carnivores do so poorly in captivity that zoos should either drastically improve their conditions or stop keeping them altogether.

Today Online 7 May 07
Condemn Inuka to a lonely life?
Letter from Eddy Tanumihardja

THE Singapore Zoo has decided that Inuka the polar bear will remain in Singapore after all, even after his mother Sheba dies.

But would keeping Inuka in Singapore necessarily be the better decision? As a polar bear born and raised in captivity, he has not experienced the life of a typical polar bear. Inuka has known only a life with the companionship of his mother. Once his mother is gone, nothing can make up for the fact that he will be alone, despite the zoo staff's efforts to keep him active and occupied.

Having had a companion of a similar species all his life, how can he be expected to adjust to being alone?

There is much stress involved in moving him to a foreign place, but once there, he will at least have a chance to come into contact with other polar bears.

I called the zoo and the staff there told me that firstly, Inuka is not a young bear, and secondly, he might possibly not even outlive his mother.

I appreciate that, and would like to point out that we cannot think of Inuka in the same way we would a wild polar bear.

I saw him at the zoo recently; while I was there, he took a piece of fish and gave it to his mother. In the wild, polar bears leave their mothers when they are mature. Polar bears in captivity are not as solitary as they are in the wild, where it is necessary due to the relative scarcity of food.

His mother Sheba has far exceeded the expected lifespan of a female polar bear. We cannot assume that Inuka will live to the normal lifespan of a polar bear. At 16, he could still have 10 more years to live.

Give Inuka a chance at a new life instead of condemning him to live and die alone.
links
Singapore Zoo to keep polar bear: report
Yahoo News 3 May 07

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