A heartbreaking video shows the ‘world’s saddest bear’ who is allegedly fed on carrots because meat is too expensive.
Footage shows the shockingly skinny black bear in its concrete enclosure at the Jiulongtan Scenic Area Zoo in Panzhou, in China’s south-western Guizhou Province.
A horrified visitor shared the video on social media, in which the bear looks miserable as it could barely move around on its extremely thin legs and had an almost invisible waist.
The visitor claimed they spoke to the zookeeper and was told that the lack of tourists left the owner barely able to afford to feed the animals. ‘The world’s most miserable black bear. It’s so thin that it looks deformed,’ they said.
‘The zookeeper said the owner has run out of money, and there are no more visitors, so they switched from feeding feed to feeding carrots and vegetables every day.’
Footage shows the shockingly skinny black bear in its concrete enclosure at the Jiulongtan Scenic Area Zoo in Panzhou, in China’s south-western Guizhou Province
A horrified visitor shared the video on social media, in which the bear looks miserable as it could barely move around on its extremely thin legs and had an almost invisible waist
The visitor claimed they spoke to the zookeeper and was told that the lack of tourists left the owner barely able to afford to feed the animals
Online commentators criticised the zoo, with users saying: ‘The animals in Panzhou Zoo are really abused. They don’t eat well, and the environment is terrible. I don’t want to go there after I went there once.’
Another wrote: ‘The bear is as hungry as a dog,’ with a third adding: ‘Return the animals to nature.’
The Panzhou Tourism Industrialisation Development Centre was quick to respond to the claims and inspected the zoo.
It said that the bear had been fed vegetables and steamed cornbread since it was a cub and had grown accustomed to the diet.
Now, being over 10 years old, it has grown old and is eating much less due to its age.
The statement was confirmed by the Panzhou Natural Resources Bureau, which also looked into the incident and promised to continue monitoring the bear in collaboration with other departments.
The bureau claimed that another black bear living at the zoo is in normal and healthy condition, although it is understood it was a recent arrival.
