Zoo must cancel polar bear plan.

Byline: The Nation.

Zoo must cancel polar bear plan

You would think that after the world watched four-year-old Knut, the polar bear at the Berlin Zoo, collapse and die, zoos would take it as a wake-up call to stop keeping this species in captivity. Captive polar bears all over the world have died prematurely, from causes ranging from eating debris thrown into their cages to fights with cage mates. The Chiang Mai Zoo's plan to display a polar bear should be cancelled without delay.

The exhibit will reportedly be little more than 2,900 square meters, which is staggeringly insufficient for an animal that calls the vast Arctic expanses home. Polar bears need …