The Caribbean is paradise for tourists seeking sun and fun. But for polar bears meant to swim in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, travel with the Mexico-based Suarez Bros. Circus is hell. Polar bears are intelligent, solitary animals who travel as many as 60 miles a day in their natural, frigid Arctic homes; in captivity, they go insane from boredom and stress.
The Suarez Bros. Circus crams polar bears into tiny cages where they suffer stiflingly hot travel conditions throughout Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
Trainers use whips and sharp sticks to force the bears to squat on small podiums, climb steps, go down a slide, and walk upright. After a Suarez Bros. performance, a newspaper photographer reported, “One of the bears didn’t want to go into the ring, and he was jabbed by a handler in the ... ribs. He really cranked that bear.” A video taken by PETA shows a trainer jabbing, whacking, and whipping the polar bears on the face, back, sides, and hindquarters to make them perform. Some of the polar bears are so emaciated that their hipbones protrude, and others are missing fur due to a skin disease.
After visiting the circus in Mexico, a witness complained, “I saw five polar bears and one black bear all in the same cage. All ... were panting heavily. ... The trainer ... beat the polar bear’s injured paw ... the bear was limping with that paw off the ground. ... I left in disgust.”
In April 1998, a 14-year-old polar bear with the Suarez Bros. Circus was diagnosed with heartworm. He was coughing, had difficulty breathing, had not been eating, and was tired and weak. The circus allowed him to simply waste away, failing to treat the disease for months until it was too late and the bear died.
 
PETA has documented the Suarez Bros. Circus’ many infractions, including improper housing, lack of veterinary care, and inadequate security to keep the public safe, and urged the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to deny the circus permission to take the bears to Puerto Rico. The agency issued the permit anyway. At PETA’s insistence, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspected the circus and reported noncompliances with the Animal Welfare Act. Puerto Rican law-enforcement officials charged the circus with cruelty after finding the bears languishing in unair-conditioned, feces-encrusted transport cages in temperatures as high as 113 degrees.
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PETA filed a lawsuit against the DOI alleging that granting a permit to import the bears into Puerto Rico violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act and that the
Canada has strengthened its regulations to ensure that bears from the wilderness stop ending up in circuses.
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USDA has caused immense suffering to the bears by allowing the circus to keep them in hideous conditions in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. We have asked the court to order the agencies to seize the bears and place them in an appropriate environment. The federal Marine Mammal Commission, stunned by a videotape taken by rangers with the Puerto Rican Department of Natural Resources showing the bears swaying neurotically in filthy cages, has called for an interagency evaluation to determine whether the polar bears should be seized.
Canadian officials were so horrified to learn that bears obtained from their wilderness wound up in the Suarez Bros. Circus that Manitoba has strengthened rules governing polar bear exportation. Gordon Graham, legislative specialist with the Manitoba Wildlife Conservation Branch, told the Winnipeg Free Press, “We’re not interested in seeing these bears ending up in circuses. It doesn’t fit with our expectations of where these bears should be going.”
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 Emmy-winning broadcast journalist and author María Celeste Arrarás urged Governor Calderón of Puerto Rico to ban the use of polar bears in circuses.
“Governor Calderón, you are in a unique position to end the suffering of not only the seven bears enslaved by the Suarez Bros. Circus, but others like them,” wrote the Puerto Rican native. Patricia Manterola, the popular Mexican actor and recording artist, has urged Mexican president Vicente Fox to ban polar bears in entertainment.
 Grammy-winning Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan pleaded with USDA officials to rescue the bears. “The fact that polar bears are treated this badly during the show causes me to fear that the bears endure far worse behind the scenes, when no one is watching...please relieve their despair,” she wrote.
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 Tell the DOI to stop issuing permits to circuses for protected  species. Point out that cruelly forcing stressed animals to perform tricks is not educational.
The Honorable Gale A. Norton
Secretary of the Interior
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
Tel.: 202-208-3100
E-Mail: gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
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