SHANGHAI – A hotel in China has been widely criticized for allowing guests to stay with large white polar bears.
Part of the Harbin Polarland theme park in the city of Harbin in the country’s far northeast Heilongjiang province, “The Polar Bear Hotel”, opened its doors on Friday, promising the bear’s 24-hour turn.
“Whether you eat, play or sleep, polar bears will keep you company,” Harbin Polarland’s official WeChat account said in a report on Thursday.
Photos and videos from Chinese state media showed people looking at two polar bears in an indoor room with artificial ice and small pools of water.
Conservationists and animal rights groups have criticized the hotel.
“Polar bears belong in the Arctic, not in zoos or glass cabinets in aquariums – and certainly not in hotels,” Jason Baker, senior vice president of animal rights group PETA, told Reuters on Saturday.
“Polar bears are active in the wild for up to 18 hours a day, and they roam around in homes that can stretch thousands of miles, where they can enjoy real life.”
In 2016, a shopping mall in the southern city of Guangzhou drew worldwide condemnation after videos emerged of a polar bear named Pizza, lying on her side in a walled glass wall.
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Yang Liu, a Harbin Polarland spokesman, told Reuters that the indoor area is only part of the bears, and that they are allowed outdoors if the temperature and air quality allow it.
She said interest in the hotel, where rooms range between $ 290 and $ 351 a night, was ‘very high’, adding that it was fully booked during a trial period.