Despite Protests, Mall Won’t Let Go ‘The World’s saddest Polar Bear’

Animal rights groups are up in arms against a mall in south-eastern China that housed a three-year-old polar bear in an aquarium as a public exhibit in the mall. They now allege that the bear is showing signs of mental decline and demand that the exhibit be closed.

Named Pizza, the polar bear attracted international attention after a human rights group posted a video on their website earlier this July. The video showed visitors at the Guangzhou mall taking photos of her as she lay on her side in the blue enclosure.

Humane Society International (HSI) on Tuesday released a video of Pizza, which it said showed "worrying stereotypical behaviours such as head swaying and repetitive pacing, evidence of frustration and mental decline."

Animal rights groups are calling for the closure of the aquarium at Grandview Mall. They are being supported by various global media outlets such as The Telegraph and Time, who have called Pizza "the World's saddest polar bear."

The management of the Grandview Mall Aquarium has however disagreed to this demand. Releasing their own video that showed Pizza swimming in its aquarium and getting fed by the staff, Grandview Mall argued that Pizza's tank, which stands at 150 square metres, complies with Chinese regulations for such enclosures