Heartbreaking footage shows depressed beast chained up inside mall where cruel shoppers pose with it for selfies
Animal rights groups campaign for shoppers to boycott the mall to protest the polar bear's treatment
THE treatment of a polar bear kept captive in a zoo in a Chinese mall has been slammed by animal welfare groups who say he is simply there to provide selfie opportunities for shoppers.
The bear is kept in an aquarium at the Grandview shopping centre in Guangzhou with an animal right's group urging shoppers to boycott the shopping centre to protest the polar bear's treatment.
In a petition to have the bear freed, Animals Asia Welfare director Dave Neale said: "There is no excuse for any animal to be trapped this way but it's widely believed that polar bears are one of the hardest of all animals to effectively provide for in captivity.
"Polar bears often exhibit 'stereotypic' behaviour as captivity restricts their natural instincts such as the need to forage."
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In distressing footage of the polar bear, the creature can be seen lying on the ground, lit with bright blue.
It appears to have tears in its eyes as it lays slumps on the ground, opening and closing its mouth.
As the camera pans out, the polar bear's enclosure can be seen to be mostly empty.
In the animal rights petition, the group have now called for the Grandview Aquarium to be closed.
It criticises the ability for shoppers to bang on the windows, shout and even take selfies with the tortured animals.
Mr Neale said the list of resources needed to keep a polar bear in captivity was extremely long, saying: "Polar bears require huge amounts of space. Large enough for them to walk, run, climb and hunt. The list of what they need is very strong - to a point whereby you can only really answer that what a polar bear really 'needs' is to be free to live life in the wild."
The petition has since attracted thousands of signatures with Mr Neale saying: "This bear has no peace and nothing natural to take comfort in. What's more, information on how best to try to meet the complex physical and behavioural needs of captive polar bears is freely available and yet this animal has been wilfully incarcerated in this way.
"We are calling on the Chinese public not to attend this attraction. We are calling for it to be closed down. This is a bear that suffers for what? For selfies? For shopping?"
The shopping centre attracts more than 800,000 visitors a day.
