Future
The Singapore Zoo has contacted the Polar Bear International Studbook keeper based in Rostock Zoo in Germany to have Inuka included in the list of bears available for transfer as part of an "animal exchange programme", when his mother, Sheba, dies. Inuka would most likely end up in a zoo in Europe.
The zoo decided to focus on polar bears in 2006 as it could be their final year in Singapore. The SPH Foundation will sponsor Inuka's upkeep until he is transferred. Inuka's 16th birthday party in 2006 saw the attendance of more than fifty guests, and included an ice carving as well as a birthday cake made of ice filled with apples and fish, topped with sixteen carrot sticks representing candles.
In May 2007, the Singapore Zoo announced that Inuka will stay at the zoo even after Sheba dies, contrary to the earlier decision to send him to a temperate-country zoo when that happens. The decision was made on the recommendation of the zoo's Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee. However, there were no plans to import any more polar bears. Meanwhile, the zoo is looking into improving the facilities, including providing better water quality and a soft area for them to walk on.
According to the recent press reports in Aug 2010, "The bears will be the highlight of the Frozen Tundra exhibit in the $180 million River Safari theme park, which is due to open in 2012 on 12ha of land between the zoo and the Night Safari." This is contrary to the earlier claims by the zoo to focus more on Tropical rainforest animals, suitable for the weather conditions in Singapore. The local animal welfare organisation congratulated the zoo for building a bigger and climate-controlled enclosure for the bears, however criticised that this is contradictory to the zoo's message with regard to fighting global warming. It said, "On the one hand, the zoo is creating awareness about the need to cut our carbon emissions to save the polar bear's habitat. But on the other, a large climate-controlled enclosure for the polar bears, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, will undoubtedly contribute to global warming and to the demise of wild polar bears."
Read more about this topic: Inuka
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