The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Canadian animal welfare groups are urging the Jardin Zoologique du Quebec to cancel its plan to export two 9-month-old polar bear cubs to Australia. Both cubs, orphaned when their mother was shot in Nunavik, are to be sent to Sea World Australia this week, with one of them to be re-exported to the Japanese Oga Aquarium at a later date. According to Rob Laidlaw, Projects Manager, World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), "We are extremely concerned about the export of polar bears to foreign zoos. We are particularly alarmed that one of the Quebec cubs will end up in a Japanese aquarium. Japan has an appalling animal welfare record and very poor animal protection laws. We believe that this decision is unethical and should be reconsidered." "Polar bears are already kept in Japanese zoos, often times in horrendous conditions. If the Oga Aquarium were interested in helping bears, they'd rescue some of those currently kept in other Japanese zoos. But they haven't. No doubt, they want cuter, young bears, for marketing purposes. Canadian bears shouldn't be going to Japan," adds Laidlaw. WSPA, Animal Alliance of Canada, and Zoocheck Canada are urging the Jardin Zoologique du Quebec to find a new home for the bears here in Canada.
