Alipore Zoological Gardens Polar Bear in Alipore zoo?

Wow. I have never heard of polar bears being kept entirely indoors. A solution to the heat for sure, but not at all an appropriate solution for a species as complex as polar bears. I guess I would need to actually see the whole holding spaces of the facilities who have them fully indoors but just hearing about it does not inspire any confidence. Some facilities need to accept that from a welfare standpoint their area is not appropriate for a species (cold-weather species in places that are hot most of the year, and vice versa) and some "solutions" are actually worse for welfare in the end.
 
captain alligator said:
I can't believe that polar bears were kept in a zoo in a hot country like India.
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captain alligator said:
However, India is too hot to keep polar bears.
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captain alligator said:
The information on zootierliste is not necessarily correct, but since there is a source of information, it cannot be said that there is no possibility that it was keep in the past.
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Just because you "can't believe it" due to India being tropical doesn't change facts. Several zoos in India have had them over the last hundred-odd years. The climate is unsuitable, especially in the menagerie days when they were housed in small barred cages with blocks of ice to try and keep them cold, but they were clearly still there.

Alipore Zoo's first Polar Bear was kept from March 1886 to November 1887. They had at least one more in the 1960s.

Vandalur Zoo in Chennai had a Polar Bear from 1955 to 1959.

I've also seen an undated postcard from Mysore Zoo showing a pair of Polar Bears.

There will undoubtably be others because, often, old zoo records available are just newspaper articles from the time.
 
Chlidonias said:
Just because you "can't believe it" due to India being tropical doesn't change facts. Several zoos in India have had them over the last hundred-odd years. The climate is unsuitable, especially in the menagerie days when they were housed in small barred cages with blocks of ice to try and keep them cold, but they were clearly still there.

Alipore Zoo's first Polar Bear was kept from March 1886 to November 1887. They had at least one more in the 1960s.

Vandalur Zoo in Chennai had a Polar Bear from 1955 to 1959.

I've also seen an undated postcard from Mysore Zoo showing a pair of Polar Bears.

There will undoubtably be others because, often, old zoo records available are just newspaper articles from the time.
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PC MYSORE SRI CHAMARAJENDRA ZOO POLAR BEARS INDIA (a25778) | eBay
Is this what postcards mean?
Apparently it's not a lie
 
The hot climate in India would have been stressful for polar bears
To be honest, I don't think these polar bears were able to live comfortably in the zoo.
Until recent years, polar bears have been kept in zoos in Indonesia, South Africa, and Thailand, but I think it was probably the same situation as them.
 
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