World's saddest polar bear is sent back to ocean park

The "world's saddest polar bear" has been moved from a Chinese shopping mall and sent back to the ocean park where he was born.

The move is only temporary, however, with the Grandview Aquarium in Guangzhou saying that he would be returned following renovation works.

Almost a million people have signed a petition to close the aquarium in Guangzhou where Pizza is kept.

Peter Li, China policy specialist at Humane Society International, said in a statement that Pizza, who lives indoors at the mall in a small enclosure, would at last "feel the sun on his fur, sniff fresh air and see the sky above him". "But we implore the mall to make this a permanent move. No amount of renovation could ever make a shopping mall a suitable place for this animal, and to send him back would be cruel and heartless." Mr Li said the mall's decision to move Pizza might be due to him becoming visibly sick and distressed. "We warned the mall that soon his decline would be so apparent that it would be difficult to have him on public display," he said.

The Grandview Aquarium "ocean theme park" has been at the centre of controversy after it opened in January inside a shopping mall.

From the BBC news