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View of the polar bear enclosure: "Your neighbors 24 hours a day"
Photo: STR / AFP
A newly opened hotel in northeast China, built around a polar bear enclosure, is attracting the annoyance of animal and nature conservationists.
In the “Polar Bear Hotel”, which is part of the “Harbin Polar Land” large aquarium, guests can watch the trapped animals in their hotel rooms around the clock. According to the hotel's self-promotion, the bears are “your neighbors 24 hours a day”.
Photos and video recordings show a cramped room, equipped with artificial rocks and icicles, in which the endangered animals can move around.
The outside of the hotel resembles a huge igloo, the roof is covered with artificial ice.
Animal welfare organizations reacted with indignation to the opening of the hotel and called for a boycott.
Guests should stay away from facilities that "benefit from the misery of animals".
"Polar bears belong in the Arctic, not in zoos or glass cases in aquariums - and certainly not in hotels," said the vice president of "Peta Asia", Jason Baker.
In the wild, polar bears typically roam areas that stretch for thousands of kilometers.
Loopholes in the Animal Welfare Act
"Loopholes in China's animal welfare law allow companies to exploit animals without worrying about their welfare," said a spokesman for the China Animal Protection Network, who did not want to be named.
The Chinese authorities recently banned the consumption of wild animals after investigations into the origin of the novel coronavirus, but the use of endangered species is still widespread in traditional medicine.
Chinese circuses and zoos are also often criticized for their poor standards of animal husbandry and care.
Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, is known for its winter celebrations.
Because of the Siberian temperatures, the city is nicknamed "Ice City" and is adorned with various types of ice and snow sculptures in annual festivals from December to March.
Penguins are regularly dressed up and exhibited.
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rai / AFP