More Information

Ping Ping’s story

Ping Ping spent the first four years of his life at Beijing Zoo in China, a zoo known for its substandard conditions and poor care of their animals.

His arrival in Australia to live at a state of the art purpose built polar bear enclosure “Polar Bear Shores” was hailed as a huge success as Ping Ping would now be able to live in one of the best captive bear enclosures in the world.

Sea World’s polar bear enclosure

This exhibit was opened as undoubtedly the best facility for polar bears currently in the world. What was not told to people, to ensure there were polar bears there to bring people through the turnstiles, was that Ping Ping was being leased from Beijing Zoo.

Ping Ping was leased for two years. The signing of this lease ensured Sea World would have a male polar bear. It did not prioritise the future welfare of Ping Ping but ensured he would have to be returned from the “best” polar bear exhibit in the world to one of the “worst”.

Now that has happened. After four years, Beijing Zoo want Ping Ping back for breeding. There is already one male polar bear at Beijing Zoo. Only one male bear can be on display at any one time, due to fighting, so this condemns the other bear to being locked in a small barren “prison like” space away from the outdoor exhibit.

The off section display at Beijing Zoo

Ping Ping was brought to Australia as a tourist attraction and now after helping generate millions of dollars in profit, he is being returned to his former life.

Take Action

Help Animal Liberation Qld and Animals Australia keep Ping Ping in Australia. Send a strong message to Sea World that they have breached their duty of care to him.

Beijing Zoo’s Polar Bear Exhibit is a concrete pit where visitors constantly throw food and other objects down at the bears and encourage the bears to beg or even dance for food bits. This interaction places the bears at great risk as evidenced by an incident three years ago when a tourist threw acid over a black bear to see whether it felt pain. As a result of the lack of enrichment programs at the Beijing Zoo, the polar bears show high levels of stress (pacing back and forth in the exhibit) – known as stereotypic behaviour.

Polar bears begging for scraps at the Beijing Zoo

Any offspring that Ping Ping might produce would spend their life in captivity and also be at risk of being shipped around the world to where it can generate the most profit for the Beijing Zoo.

Returning Ping Ping to a sub-standard facility will have detrimental effects on him both physically and psychologically.

He will have to go through a stressful relocation to another country and climate. Ping has adjusted and become accustomed to the best polar bear facility in the world. Animal welfare professionals have grave concerns relating to the treatment of animals at the Beijing Zoo.

When Ping Ping arrived at Sea World, he was very nervous and frightened of people. This was probably because most animals are moved off-display by having long metal bars or pieces of bamboo jammed into their bodies and feet to get them to move to different areas.

Polar Bear Shores cost $6 million dollars and it re-creates as closely as possible all the weather extremes and environment that a wild polar bear would experience. It has running streams, chilled water pools (4 metres deep), rocks and logs to climb on and natural vegetation. The off-display is spacious, airy and temperature controlled to ensure the bears have somewhere comfortable to rest.

As a result of his treatment in Beijing Zoo, special enrichment programs where provided on his arrival at Sea World which concentrated on building his confidence. Ping Ping quickly become comfortable in his new home and bonded with his new carers.

The situation that now arises should never have happened – it is unethical and morally unacceptable. To have placed Ping Ping in the situation where he will be taken from the best facility in the world and returned to the worst facility is shameful.

Latest News

On November 7 Animals Australia placed a proposal before the Chinese Ambassador to Australia Madam Fu Ying to have Ping Ping stay in Australia as a further Chinese ambassador. It would show that Australia and China are working together to improve the conditions of animals in our zoos and helping to educate the public on the plight of endangered animals in the wild.

To read further please click here http://www.animalsaustralia.org/default2.asp?idL1=1269&idL2=1726

Animals Australia’s response to Sea World’s e-mail

Animals Australia Responds to Sea World

Following is the text of the standard email being sent to Australians who have contacted Sea World with their concerns over Ping Pings pending departure to Beijing Zoo...

Sea World: "Thank you for your email to John Menzies and Trevor Long regarding Ping Ping's return to Beijing Zoo. We appreciate the time you have taken to make us aware of your thoughts.
This situation is totally out of Sea World's control. Sea World has made every effort financially and physically to secure Ping Ping's future at Sea World. However, the Beijing Government, Beijing Zoo and the Chinese people have strongly expressed their desire for Ping Ping to return to Beijing."

Animals Australia: Beijing Zoo may want Ping Ping back to breed from, but we would be interested to see evidence supporting the Sea World statement that the Beijing government and the Chinese people have strongly expressed their desire for Ping Ping’s return. He has been gone for 4 years and there are 3 other polar bears at Beijing Zoo and polar bears at other zoos in China.

Further there are many thousands of endangered Asiatic moon bears being kept in cages in China to have bile extracted from their gall bladders for use in traditional medicine. Without supportive evidence it is difficult to believe that a single polar bear would be of interest to the Chinese government or people. He is clearly of interest to Beijing Zoo who would use him to produce cubs which would attract further tourist dollars and profits from leases to other zoos.

"Since arriving at Sea World four years ago, Ping Ping has been a wonderful ambassador for Sea World and a very valuable conduit between Beijing Zoo and Sea World. Unfortunately, although we were successful in negotiating an extension of the original breeding loan, we now must accept that his stay will not be permanent."

Animals Australia completely agrees that Ping Ping has been a wonderful ambassador for Sea World, one of the Warner Village theme parks on the Gold Coast. Undoubtedly his playful antics diving in the four metre deep pool would have attracted people and tourist dollars to the facility.

Bringing Ping Ping to Australian on the premise of breeding was the only way that a facility such as Sea World could fulfill the permit requirements to import a threatened species. However, the prospects of breeding successfully with Ping Ping were always minimal considering he was an adolescent submissive male paired with Kanook who was not only many years older, but had killed the three litters of cubs that she had previously bore.

Sea World achieved through Ping Ping the desired outcome – to have a polar bear present to launch ‘Polar bear shores’ in 2000. However the signing of such a lease – in the full knowledge that his fate would be to be returned to a sub-standard facility after experiencing the best in the world – is unethical at best, and always placed his physical and psychological well-being at risk.
"Beijing Zoo has been working very hard to improve their facilities in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics, and for those improvements to be recognised and accepted by western visitors. Improvements have been undertaken to date to exhibits housing many different species at the zoo and work is ongoing."

Any improvements to this sub-standard facility caused by the 2008 Olympics would be welcomed. However, improvements have been desperately needed in this facility for years to ensure that the animals were provided with even a minimal appropriate level of care. It is disturbing to read Sea World’s suggestion that change at Beijing Zoo is being motivated by the pending arrival of western visitors in 2008, rather than being influenced by a greater understanding of animals needs locally which would ensure long term change which would benefit animals.

"During the past four years since Ping Ping has been in Australia there are now climbing structures in the Polar Bear exhibit and there will be natural substrates in the near future. The dens now have air conditioning and their diet has been broadened. The land area of the exhibit is quite large and due to the climate, the bears have snow for a prolonged period through winter. "

The polar bear exhibit at Beijing Zoo is a concrete pit, completely inappropriate for housing polar bears. The suggestion that the land area is ‘quite large’ is misleading. It looks such because it is a concrete pit. The perimeter is a wide flat concrete slab circling the higher concrete mound in the middle. The perimeter is not “useful exhibit space” as it has no function for the polar bears aside from sitting and begging for food to be thrown down from above. This degree of public access to the bears places their welfare at risk – as evidenced by an incident 3 years ago when acid was thrown by a university student on a black bear in a similar exhibit to see whether he “felt pain”
Whilst it may snow at times at Beijing Zoo – enrichment for animals should never be dependant on what the weather may or may not do.

"A number of Beijing Zoo staff have visited our facility and currently there are four Beijing Zoo staff visiting Sea World who are very keen to increase their knowledge on environmental and behavioral enrichment for their Polar bears. We also must remember that apart from the improvements that we have been able to influence at Beijing Zoo, there is also much for us to learn about these animals from Beijing Zoo."

It would be appropriate to ask Sea World how much time during these visits by Beijing Officials has actually been spent at Polar Bear Shores working directly with the bears as would be necessary to increase knowledge of behavioral and environmental enrichment for the bears.

Animals Australia has reason to believe that the visits by Beijing officials to Sea World have not resulted in productive changes for bears in Beijing Zoo.
"Sea World is recogised as a world leader in regards to behavioral and environmental enrichment ensuring that enrichment items are constantly changing, varied, modified and evaluated."

Sea World has suggested that they have been able to influence improvements at Beijing Zoo. Their four year relationship with Beijing Zoo has resulted in a static climbing frame (polar bears are not one of the climbing species of bears) which was not visible when photographs were taken of the Beijing polar bear pit last month.

Ping Ping’s return to Beijing Zoo means that there will be two males at the facility. Due to problems with fighting, one male will always have to be locked in a small cell like indoor area. Sea World claims that one of the improvements they have been able to influence is air-conditioning in this area. This does not change the fact that Ping Ping ( the other male bear) will be imprisoned in this tiny area which provides no quality of life on an ongoing basis.

"The long term goal of the international zoo community is to provide a secure future for Polar bears through a successful breeding program and this can only be achieved by co-operation, education and the sharing of knowledge and expertise amongst all zoos. It is very important for our Polar bears, both captive and wild, that we all work together to ensure their future."

The obvious omission in this statement is the word ‘captive’. Breeding programs in international zoos will ensure a secure future for captive polar bears – ensuring that there are adequate bears on display for the public. Sea World is a theme park and part of the Warner Village international group based in the USA. Its primary role is to be a profitable public entertainment facility.
Polar Bear Shores has been a highly successful exhibit for Sea World. Ping Ping’s playful antics have helped attract millions of visitors through their turnstiles. During his four years in Australia the “co-operation, education and sharing of knowledge and expertise” between Sea World and Beijing Zoo has resulted in a recently built static climbing frame in their concrete pit and air-conditioning in their indoor off display cell.

One would have hoped and expected that more could have been achieved through this “co-operation” especially in the full knowledge that Ping Ping faced being returned to this facility.

Ping Ping’s daily enjoyment has come from diving head first into the 4 metre deep pool at Sea World and delighting tourists with his underwater antics. It can only be hoped that he checks the depth of the 1.5 metre deep pool at Beijing Zoo before diving in.