Polar bears at Nuremberg Zoo Once again, the futility of keeping animals in zoos has been highlighted by Polar bears being recently bred at Nuremberg Zoo.
Ice-flows painted on the wall of this zoo enclosure are unlikely to fool the polar bear into thinking he is in his real home. According to various reports, two young female Polar Bears gave birth to an unknown number of cubs a few weeks ago. It would appear that one of the mothers may have rejected her cubs. At this stage it is uncertain how the other female bear is coping. The zoo has reportedly said that it will not interfere and will let ‘nature take its course’. Using the term ‘nature’ is a wholly inappropriate term for a zoo to use. No zoo can hope to replicate the natural living conditions for any animal, let alone the world’s largest land predator. Mothers often reject their offspring in zoos, mainly due to stress caused by their unnatural environment. This is not the first time that Nuremberg Zoo has been in the media spotlight over Polar bears. In 2000, the zoo shot dead four adult Polar bears after they had escaped. The Zoo has also bred Polar bears before. However, the breeding of bears in zoos contributes nothing to conservation. All of the bears bred in captivity, stay in captivity for their entire lives - which could be in excess of 20 years. CAPS is opposed to the keeping of all animals in zoos, for ethical, welfare and conservation reasons. Animals suffer greatly in zoos, and present with repetitive psychological problems due to their captivity. In the wild, Polar bears can cover huge distances. In an average year, a wild Polar bear can roam over an area the size of Greater London. An Oxford University study revealed that the average Polar bear’s enclosure in a zoo was one million times smaller than their wild home range. The study also found that there is a direct correlation between the level of stress an animal suffers in a typical zoo enclosure and the size of their territory in the wild. A study published by CAPS also found a massive difference between the size of enclosures in UK zoos and safari parks, compared to natural home ranges. All but one zoo in the UK have stopped keeping Polar bears. Edinburgh Zoo still has one bear, having spent her entire life of 23 years in captivity. CAPS believes strongly, that the only way to protect any species of animal (including Polar bears), is to protect their natural habitat – not to keep them locked-up in woefully inadequate enclosures, where they are driven mad. None of the Polar bears currently in zoos will ever see the vast open space of the Artic tundra – their homeland – where they would hunt, roam, play and really act as nature intended. For them, life will consist of nothing more than the concrete enclosures they occupy. Sadly, if they survive, life for the Nuremberg Zoo Polar bear cubs is very unlikely to be any different.
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