Saddest polar bear kept in shopping center has been moved to a temporary home

'World's saddest polar bear' Pizza at the Grandview Mall in China CREDIT: FEATURE CHINA / BARCROFT

The 'world's saddest polar bear' has been removed from a shopping centre in China where he 'suffered for selfies'.

Pizza, who was kept in an aquarium at China’s Grandview Mall, has been moved to an undisclosed ocean park in North China, where he was born, to reunite with his parents. However, Grandview say the move is only a temporary one while they renovate Pizza's enclosure. 

More than a million people signed a petition calling for Pizza to be removed from Grandview Mall after footage emerged of him showing "signs of mental distress", according to an animal rights group.

Humane Society International (HSI) and its Chinese animal group partner, Capital Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), urged Grandview to make the move a permanent one. 

Peter Li, from the HSI, said that Pizza would "at last feel the sun on his fur, sniff fresh air and see the sky above him".  

"Pizza the polar bear has endured a life of deprivation and suffering in his small, artificial, glass-fronted room at the shopping mall, so the news that he’s getting out at last makes me very happy and relieved for him. But we implore the mall to make this a permanent move for Pizza," he said. 

"No amount of renovation could ever make a shopping mall a suitable place for this animal, and to send him back now would be cruel and heartless. We commend the mall for being gracious enough to listen to Chinese and global voices of concern, and hope they will do the right thing for this poor bear who has already been through enough."

Mdm Qin, director of CAWA, added: "It’s a good decision, the right decision for Pizza, but it’s not the end. Temporary is not good enough. Now we hope that Grandview will learn from this episode and move Pizza permanently so that he never again has to endure the dreadful life in a shopping mall." 

Professor Alastair Macmillan, a veterinary adviser for the HSI, said last month that Pizza was showing signs of ‘mental decline’ in a clip recorded at Grandview. 

“This polar bear is showing classic stereotypical behaviour, including head swaying and repetitive pacing, induced by frustration and poor welfare,” he said.