Pizza the polar bear on display in a Chinese shopping mall has been offered a new home

Good news for the sad and lonely polar bear trapped in a shopping centre in southern China.

The bear, called Pizza, has been offered a new home at a wildlife park in England, who have agreed to take the polar bear as long as he is not replaced at the shopping centre.

Pizza is heading to Yorkshire Wildlife Park where he will join a community of bears.

However so far the manager at Grandview shopping centre has refused the offer saying the facility is legally compliant to Chinese standards and protecting animal rights.

The bear has been on display at the shopping centre along with six young belugas, five walrus calves, a wolf and artic foxes.

Actvivist Group Animals Welfare have been spearheading the campaign to free the bear are asking for the facility to be shut down.

To sign the petition to free Pizza click here.

Animals Asia Animal Welfare Director Dave Neale said: "There is no excuse for any animal to be trapped this way but it’s widely believed that polar bears are one of the hardest of all animals to effectively provide for in captivity. Polar bears often exhibit ’stereotypic’ behaviour as captivity restricts their natural instincts such as the need to forage.

"Polar bears require huge amounts of space. Large enough for them to walk, run, climb and hunt. The list of what they need is very long - to a point whereby you can only really answer that what a polar bear really ’needs’ is to be free to live life in the wild.

"This bear has no peace and nothing natural to take comfort in.  What’s more information on how best to try to meet the complex physical and behavioural needs of captive polar bears is freely available and yet this animal has been willfully incarcerated in this way.

"We are calling on the Chinese public not to attend this attraction. We are calling for it to be closed down. This is a bear that suffers for what? For selfies? For shopping?"

Further controversy surrounding the shopping mall zoo is the lack of vet care and rumours that animals have died or been injured while at the site.

H/T: breakingnews.ie