Polar Bears Aren't Meant to Live in Shopping Malls!
43,934 signatures toward our 40,000 Goal
Sponsor: The Rainforest Site
Help close this inhumane shopping mall aquarium and release its mishandled animals to loving sanctuaries!
The city of Guangzhou is located within China's southeast Guangdong Province. Within Guangzhou is the Grandview Mall Aquarium, an aquarium that, as its name indicates, shares space with a shopping mall1.
The aquarium displays 500 species, including polar bears, walrus calves, young beluga whales, and Arctic wolves, all of which inhabit "barren enclosures that are too small for them to engage in natural behavior2."
More than that, these animals aren't located in areas within the building that allow them natural air, or natural light3.
In effect, as reported by spectators and the media alike, these animals are showing signs of extreme unhappiness4. Intense pacing back and forth. Swimming in circles. Clawing at the walls.
This is not how animals should be treated; this is not how these animals are meant to live.
What stands in the way of better lives for these animals is the deputy general manager of the shopping center, who has also said that these reports give a false impression of the venue, that these animals aren't actually kept in poor conditions.
In 2016, Pizza the polar bear was granted a reprieve from its confines at the Grandview Mall Aquarium after a petition of one million signatures was handed into the Chinese authorities5. While this is a victory for one animal, there are still hundreds of species suffering at this establishment. We must continue the fight!
It's clear that the Grandview Mall Aquarium isn't going to step aside, not without push from its government. We must call upon the governor of the Guangdong Province, to enact change.
Sign below to not only force the closure of this inhumane aquarium, but to release its animals to loving sanctuaries.
- Trip.com (2021), "Grandview Aquarium."
- Ameena Schelling, The Dodo (1 February 2016), "Depressed Polar-Grizzly Bear Kept Locked In A Room At The Mall."
- Humane Society International (15 October 2016), "China's animal groups join call to free polar bear at Guangzhous Grandview Mall as new video raises concerns about his mental decline."
- Gloria Chan, South China Morning Post (30 Jan, 2016), "Arctic blues? South China mall under fire for new 'polar world.'"
- Ben Rossington, Mirror (13 November 2016), "'World's saddest polar bear' gets a happy ending as he is moved from cramped cage in Chinese shopping mall."
The Petition:
To the Governor of Guangzhou:
People across the planet have spoken: the Grandview Mall Aquarium is a disgraceful way in which to treat animals. The people have spoken, yes, but the shopping center in which this aquarium tragically resides refuses to listen. In fact, they refuse to acknowledge the inhumanity at all.
Whales aren't meant to swim in circles. Wolves and foxes aren't meant to pace back and forth within a pen. Polar bears aren't meant to claw at walls.
These animals deserve better. While they cannot be released into the wild, they deserve to live within something as near to their natural habitat as possible. The Grandview Mall Aquarium does not provide this habitat.
Governor, because the shopping center refuses to cooperate, it's now up to you to force this change. I demand that the Grandview Mall Aquarium be closed immediately, and its animals be released to proper sanctuaries, so that they can recover from their mistreatment and live their lives in peace.
Sincerely,
