Harbin Polarland is opening a new hotel with polar bears in glass fronted cases. Bookings are full but critics feel the housing is inhumane. (Based on the two photos in the article, I would tend to agree). Chinese 'polar bear hotel' opens to full bookings, criticism (msn.com)
I don't care what PETA says. On this matter they may just be right... A hotel that thrives upon having polar bears as crowd drawer and attraction does feel iffy...
Ah yes, I shall now marvel at this state of the art facility, because PETA has had an issue with it! Something doesn't add up here....
They article says that "conservationists criticized the hotel", but the only quote is PETA. Disgusting. PETA is most certainly NOT a conservation group. They don't care what happens to the animals once they're freed, as we've seen before.
There has been a lot of bad press around the world in regards to this new exhibit. In truth, it is an appalling enclosure for Polar Bears and I can scarcely believe that it is brand-new. The exhibit is not much larger than what would be deemed adequate for bears 100 years ago!
I agree the article should have quoted a critical source other than PETA. Nevertheless this is an inhumane exhibit. Just because they say it is bad does not mean we should say it is good just because we don't want to agree with them.
After Disney and Pairi Daiza have done hotels with animals I am not surprised that someone out there would have tried to make some buck by making a cringeworthy (I can't use the word I want in a professional forum) take on the animal hotel. I can't tell if you can't see FBBird's sarcasm or if you are just going with the flow.
Polar bears are the worst animal for this sort of enclosure, don't get me wrong this enclosure is horrible in nearly every way, but if you were going to have an animal enclosure as the centerpiece of a hotel, at least choose an animal that doesn't need 10,000 square meters of enclosure space. (I'm using Planet Zoo's minimum enclosure size)
Elephants and dolphins might be the only choices worse. Though any animal subject to 24/7 viewing is definitely going to be uncomfortable in such a small space. I will also note that Planet Zoo's exhibit minimum is three times the recommended size stated in the AZA Polar Bear ACM (Free to read on their site). Most Planet Zoo exhibit minimums are huge compared to real life. Which isn't really a bad thing, but not necessarily an accurate comparison.
