A video of a Malayan sun bear at China’s Hangzhou Zoo recently sparked controversy, with many accusing the zoo of using a person in a bear suit. The video shows the bear standing on its hind legs and looking at the visitors, with its back appearing wrinkled like human pants. This led to speculations and rumours that the bear might not be a real animal. While the Chinese zoo has dismissed these rumours, the Paradise Wildlife Park in the UK has responded by releasing footage of one of its own sun bears, Kyra, standing upright to confirm that it is indeed a real bear and not a human in a costume.
Sharing the video, the British zoo wrote, “We can confirm that Kyra is a sun bear.”
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The video of the sun bear at a UK zoo has gone viral and garnered over 4 lakh views. The post shared by Paradise Wildlife Park on Instagram has been flooded with interesting and humorous responses from social media users, with many expressing their amusement over the bear’s behaviour.
A user wrote, “Oooh they actually do stand very human–like. I can see why there was a confusion.”
Another wrote, “At least this bear doesn’t look like he’s wearing joggers.” A user stated, “She is so gorgeous.”
“We need to see from the back to be able to compare to the “fake” one,” a comment read.
According to Paradise Wildlife Park’s website, “Sun Bears whilst look human when they stand, they actually have the natural behaviour of standing on their hind feet for a greater view of their surroundings or smell far-off objects; they also try to intimidate their enemies by displaying the chest patch if threatened.”
Earlier, the allegations against Hangzhou Zoo for using a person in a bear costume were quickly dismissed by the zoo’s spokesperson. In an audio recording shared on WeChat, the spokesperson confirmed it is actually a sun bear. They addressed the speculation by highlighting that it would be physically impossible for a person to wear a thick fur costume in the scorching summer heat.