Animal rights activists have speculated that wild animals are unethically trained to do dance steps and tricks.
Chinese zoos often make news for producing viral clips featuring cute antics of animals like pandas or the rare giant pandas. Recently, a video from a Chinese zoo has created a buzz on social media. The undated video shows three bears observing a zoo visitor who is performing a viral dance trend known as the ‘Flower Handshake’. The ‘Flower Handshake’ involves joining your wrists and moving them in a circular motion above your head. Surprisingly, all the three black bears mimic the visitor by standing on their hindlegs. On Wednesday, The New York Post shared this clip on YouTube. This clip has so far gathered over 5,000 views. In the comments, some people were amused by the bear’s actions, while a few speculated that the bears are ‘fake’.
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Expressing the former sentiment, a YouTube user wrote, “They are so cute!.” While a person claimed, “They’re fake bears”. A few people also found the video distasteful and argued that wild animals should not be held captive for the entertainment of humans. Echoing this sentiment, a YouTube user wrote, “This is just sad. Look at the horrible conditions they are in too. They aren’t on this earth for your entertainment.”
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Animal rights activists across the world have often advocated for the release of wild animals from zoos and enclosures on the grounds that small spaces and isolation from their natural habitat hampers their wellbeing. There have also been claims that some zoos unethically train wild animals to do tricks in a bid to entertain the visitors and earn more money.
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The above-mentioned “dancing bears” are not the only bears that put Chinese zoos in the news. Back in August, the Hangzhou Zoo was accused of putting humans dressed in bear costumes in the enclosure. To address this controversy the zoo representatives clarified in a media statement that the bears that are being doubted as humans in costumes are Malayan sun bears. These bears are the smallest subspecies of bear. Their leaner frame sometimes gives them a human-like appearance. The zoo added that putting humans in bear costumes is simply not feasible for the zoo authorities because no humans wearing a full-body costume can stand the outdoor heat for a long time.
