A polar bear dubbed the ‘world’s saddest’ because of it’s harsh captivity in a Chinese shopping mall has been sent back to the ocean park where he was born.
Sadly, the move is only temporary as the Grandview Aquarium in Guangzhou plans to have him back once their renovation works are completed.
The mall posted on its social media that it would ‘await Pizza’s return’.
The polar bear made worldwide headlines back July after it was claimed he ‘suffers for selfies’, with almost a million people signing a petition to close the aquarium.
In a statement, Peter Li, China policy specialist at Humane Society International, said:
We implore the mall to make this a permanent move. No amount of renovation could ever make a shopping mall a suitable place for this animal, and to send him back would be cruel and heartless.
He added that the mall’s decision to move Pizza might be due to him becoming visibly sick and distressed, but the mall claims that they’re only saying ‘goodbye for a short period of time’ while it upgraded its exhibitions.
However, it remains unclear whether its Pizza’s small enclosure which will be modified to make it somehow more suitable for a polar bear to live there.
This polar bear is just one of the many animals which is kept at the shopping mall, with six young belugas, five walrus calves, Arctic foxes and a wolf also there for peoples ‘entertainment’.
We can only hope that common sense will prevail and this bear will finally be returned to where it really belongs- the wild.
