Park’s safety pledge after tigers kill bear
Print Edition
SHANGHAI Wildlife Park pledged yesterday to improve security after a young bear was torn to pieces by tigers.
Horrified visitors saw the 3-year-old Asiatic black bear — also called the moon bear — stray into the Siberian tiger zone at the park in the Pudong New Area.
A video clip posted online showed the bear rear up onto its hind legs in a desperate bid to defend itself from four encroaching tigers, before being knocked over and killed.
The cries of shocked visitors can be heard in the background, during the incident on Monday afternoon.
A later photograph posted online showed more than 10 tigers feeding on the bear’s body.
Management of the park said the young bear had only two months ago been moved to the bear zone of the park, which offers a freer habitat.
While different zones are separated by gates and electric fences, the bear slipped into the tiger zone through a gate alongside a sightseeing bus.
“The bear was frightened for some reason and ended up running into the tiger zone,” said Ni Li, a park official.
But what exactly frightened the bear remained unclear, she said, adding it’s rare for bears to act like that.
Ni said in the lead-up, the bus had obscured security camera views of the bear, making it unclear what had spooked it.
An investigation found that the sightseeing bus and bear both moved into the tiger zone at the same time by chance, said Ni.
A blind spot in the security camera coverage when the bear crossed into the tiger zone meant that it was not spotted, she added.
Once the bear was seen in the tiger zone, a patrol vehicle was dispatched in a vain bid to save it.
Ni said the park will install more surveillance cameras to improve supervision and prevent similar incidents occurring.
Shanghai Wildlife Park has around 30 bears.
The Asian black bear is found in areas including the northeast of China’s mainland, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, part of the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayas.
It is classified as vulnerable due to habitat loss and hunting for body parts.
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