A Chinese hotel built around a central polar bear shell for the incessant viewing pleasure of its guests is open to immediate condemnation by conservationists.
At Harbin Polar Land in northeast China, the windows of hotel rooms look like the pen of bears, and visitors said the animals are their “neighbors 24 hours a day”.
A video shows the bears – an endangered species – being photographed by crowds of guests under harsh warm lights, in a space made up of false rocks and ice mirrors and a white painted floor.
Animal rights organizations have reacted with outrage, urging customers to stay away from businesses that ‘benefit from animal misery’.
“Polar bears belong in the Arctic, not in zoos or glass cabinets in aquariums – and certainly not in hotels,” said Jason Baker, vice president of Peta Asia.
In nature, polar bears usually roam over areas that can stretch thousands of miles, Baker added.
Harbin is famous for its shard feast, and the hotel looks like a giant igloo, the roof of which is covered with artificial ice. But some Chinese social media users have expressed themselves uncomfortably about the theme being taken to this extreme.
“A panoramic prison for polar bears … Didn’t we learn anything about animal cruelty?” said one commentator.
“The gaps in China’s wildlife protection law allow businesses to exploit animals without any concern for their welfare,” a China Animal Protection Network spokesman, who did not want to be named, told AFP.
Chinese authorities recently changed the law to ban the consumption of game for food after speculation about the origin of the coronavirus spurred investigators to a Wuhan market where live animals were for sale.
But the use of endangered species in traditional medicine remains unbridled, and Chinese circuses and zoos are often criticized for the poor standards of animal housing and care.