Straits Times Forum 10 Sep 10;
I REFER to Wednesday's letters ('How zoo is ensuring survival of endangered animals' and 'Sheba and Inuka thriving well in Singapore') in response to our letter ('Polar bears and zoo's green contradiction'; Sept 1).
Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) would like to clarify that we are not requesting for the polar bears Sheba and Inuka to be moved out of Singapore, nor are we requesting for them to be released into the wild.
The current conditions for both polar bears are far from optimal, and the current enclosure fails to meet the minimum standards laid out in the Polar Bear Protection Act, which was made law by the government of Manitoba, Canada, in 2003.
The Singapore Zoo enclosure fails both in terms of size and design.
In 2007, Acres publicly stated that 'if Inuka is to remain in tropical Singapore, we strongly urge the zoo to consider drastically improving the living conditions and raising them to meet international standards'.
We once again congratulate the zoo for building a new enclosure for the polar bears and meeting our recommendations.
We, however, sincerely hope that the zoo remains committed to its stand on not importing any more Arctic animals and focuses its efforts on fighting climate change and being a tropical zoo.
Louis Ng
Executive Director
Acres (Animal Concerns Research
and Education Society)
