Hope it won't end up in a circus, like other Russian zoo-born big cats and wild-captured polar bear cubs (while captive born ones are valued enough to avoid this fate) ...
Do they still capture polar bears from the wild in Russia? I thought that was illegal. Alot that happens in that country zoo and animal welfare in captivity wise are pretty unheard off in the western world. These things would cause alot of protests in the west. But not there, why?
Wneh Russian State Circus needed PB's for shows, permits were quickly given (see, animals are just natural resources in Russia, and animal shows is a goddamn national tradition, just as Japanese whaling). Last capture happened in early 2000's. During just ONE expedition, required number of 'orphaned' cubs were found (I believe the hunters just scared away mothers and taken cubs). In 2005, St. Petersburg zoo provided home for 2 males retired from circus (2002-born ) and discarded them in 2010 (1 to circus facility near Moscow, he was later in 2013 sent to travelling menagerie, and 1 to Rostov zoo). Now 4 females are performing (13 years old), and at least 2 males are suffering in travelling menageries. So it means that in 2002 at least SIX bears were captured for performing. In our country, it is legal to keep an endangered animal in a tiny cage if you don't get caught on tape beating it! Mental suffering doesn't count. And those circus bastards called them 'ANTARCTIC POLAR BEARS': (image doesn't fit, see it separately) http://www.vorgo.ru/img/news/2014/n2062014.jpg Bears at 0.45
It is indeed a sorry state of affairs if endangered animals like polar bears disappear into the circus trade ...
I heard that Sao Paulo Zoo was negotiating with Russian State Circus about taking polar bear females on loan for new exhibit... most possibly it was denied.
With endangered species, capture is regulated but husbandry is not. For Russian zoos there are no official husbandry requirements, only space recommendations dating Soviet times. And no regulations for circuses at all! Keeping animals in transport crates for a lifetime is OK.
A polar bear was born in mid November 2017 prematurely. Alas, the first time mother Milka killed her offspring, which is not unusual for a primiparous female. Link: «Это аномалия»: биолог ПГНИУ объяснил поведение медведицы, убившей детеныша в пермском зоопарке