Frosty reception for Chinese hotel featuring polar bears
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Polar bears in a central enclosure at newly opened Harbin Polar Land in China's Heilongjiang province, on Friday. They can be viewed 24 hours a day by hotel guests, whose rooms face the bears' pen.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BEIJING • A Chinese hotel built around a polar bear enclosure for the non-stop viewing pleasure of its guests has sparked condemnation from conservationists.
At Harbin Polar Land in north-eastern China, the hotel rooms' windows face the bears' pen, with visitors told that the animals are their "neighbours 24 hours a day".
A video shows the bears - a threatened species - being photographed by crowds of guests under harsh warm lights in a space consisting of fake rocks and icicles, and a white painted floor.
Animal rights groups reacted with outrage, urging customers to stay away from establishments profiting "from animals' misery".
Peta Asia vice-president Jason Baker said: "Polar bears belong in the Arctic, not in zoos or glass boxes in aquariums - and certainly not in hotels."
In the wild, polar bears usually roam territories that can span thousands of kilometres, Mr Baker added.
One commentator asked: "A panoramic prison for polar bears... Haven't we learnt anything about animal cruelty?"
A spokesman for China Animal Protection Network, who declined to be named, told Agence France-Presse: "Gaps in China's wildlife protection law allow businesses to exploit animals without any concern for their welfare."
The Chinese authorities recently changed the law to ban the consumption of wildlife for food after speculation over the origins of Covid-19 nudged investigators towards a Wuhan market selling animals.
But the use of parts of endangered species in traditional medicine remains rampant.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
