Jokes aside, most of the sun bears in captivity are Super Neurotic because they have been rescued from the bear bile trade wherein they are kept caged with a surgical “vent” into their stomachs so they can be kept alive and repeatedly harvested for their bile which is used extensively in some alternative (read: fake) medicine in southeast asia. Or from the illegal pet trade, which is similarly mentally damaging.
So even cared for and kept in the most ideal of enclosures, many of these bears have long term neurological issues which simply will never go away. The same goes for other animals rescued from dire situations, and it means that things like pacing and rocking are not always universal indicators of an unhappy or (currently) unhealthy animal, just one that has been through some shit.
I don’t have context for any of these images and I’m a little wary of the third, but its entirely possible that all of these bears are happy, healthy, but… Be Like That. But through no fault of their own.
Recent Comments