The few remaining polar bear facilities in accredited zoos use intensive enrichment programmes to address the welfare challenges of housing an animal with vast natural ranging needs.
Despite best efforts with enrichment and facility design, polar bears in zoos face fundamental welfare challenges from the impossibility of meeting their vast natural ranging motivation in any captive setting. Stereotypic pacing in polar bears — even in the best facilities — indicates persistent frustration of natural behaviour, a welfare indicator that cannot be eliminated through enrichment alone. Facilities that have phased out polar bear keeping represent honest welfare-based decision-making. Where polar bears remain in accredited facilities, intensive enrichment, large enclosures, and training for cooperative care represent the best available approach to minimising welfare compromise in an inherently challenging situation.