Internet Bands Together to Save World's Most Miserable Polar Bear

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Over the past couple weeks, the Internet has shared a good laugh over Purrmanently Sad Cat, a seemingly depressed feline who always looked unhappy.

But Web users know there's no joking around when it comes to what truly must be the world's most miserable polar bear.

His name is Arturo and he resides at the Mendoza Zoo in Argentina, which is the first problem. Why would a polar bear ever be housed in South America?

Sad Polar Bear

For two decades, the poor animal has suffered from temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s, with very little access to pools of water. Moreover, his recently lost his only polar near companion… in all of Argentina.

"[Arturo] is basically going insane," Bill McDonald, CEO of the Winnipeg Humane Society, tells CBC News.

Efforts to bring Arturo to the International Polar Bear Conservation Centre in Canada have failed because the Mendoza Zoo was unable to provide sufficient paperwork.

"Arturo is in a small cage, with no space to walk, he has no stimulation, and the weather is awful for a polar bear," Canadian professor Maria Fernanda Arentsen tells The Daily News.

Now, a Greenpeace petition has hit the Web, with over 150,000 signatures on it. The document will be sent to the Argentinean president, while a similar petition on is comprised of over 60,000 signatures.

There are also many Facebook pages dedicated to Arturo, with stars such as Cher taking up his cause.

Earlier this month, a daring rescue in India saved an elephant from a life of torture, so don't give up, people. There may be hope yet for Arturo.


And yet you didn't share either of the petitions for Arturo. Why??

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