動物福利運動人士試圖讓一頭被關在中國購物中心的北極熊解脫 / Animal welfare campaigners are trying to free a polar bear that’s being kept in a shopping centre in China.
◎魏國金
He’s called Pizza and has been dubbed the "world’s saddest polar bear" after videos emerged of him slumped on the floor of his enclosure.
牠被叫做「披薩」，在牠癱伏於囚室地面的影像出現後，被封為「全世界最悲傷的北極熊」。
Nearly 400,000 people have signed a petition to close the "ocean theme park" at the Grandview Centre in Guangzhou. It is also home to beluga whales, walrus calves, a wolf and arctic foxes.
近40萬人連署請願，要求關閉廣州正佳廣場的「海洋主題公園」。該處也飼養白鯨、海象、狼與北極狐。
Animals Asia started the petition, releasing a video that looks like Pizza is crying as tourists stop to take photos.
「亞洲動物基金」發起請願，該組織公佈的影片顯示，看起來像披薩的北極熊在遊客停下來拍照時哭泣。
The charity says the aquarium’s owners made "no attempt to create an environment that would meet the needs of any living bear" when it opened in January. It claims Pizza is living in cramped conditions with "nothing natural".
該慈善組織說，水族館負責人在1月開館時，「無意去創造一個符合任何活熊所需要的環境」。它宣稱，披薩生活在「一點都不自然」的狹窄環境中。
Animal Welfare Director Dave Neale thinks the staff don’t understand how polar bears should be kept. "Grandview is genuinely shocked by the international outrage at their aquarium and the awful facilities used to house animals. As is so often the case, I believe that the cruelty is as much about a lack of knowledge as commercial pressures."
該基金動物福利部主任尼爾認為，工作人員不了解北極熊該如何飼養。「對於水族館及其飼養動物的糟糕設施引發的國際憤怒，正佳真的大為吃驚，由於情況如此屢見不鮮，我認為商業壓力導致殘酷的程度，與欠缺知識旗鼓相當。」
"There will never be a time when polar bears can ever comfortably be kept inside a shopping centre," says Dave Neale. "As far as we are concerned we are working for the animals. We cannot turn our backs on them."
「北極熊不可能被舒適地飼養在購物中心內，」尼爾說，「對我們來說，我們為動物福祉努力，我們不能棄牠們於不顧。」