Argentina has refused to relocate its lonely polar bear to a wildlife park that specializes in the species, despite a petition by more than half a million people. Animal rights activists had been calling on the 28-year-old animal to be moved to a zoo in Winnipeg, Canada, over claims that it was showing signs of stress. But Gustavo Pronotto, director of Mendoza Zoo, said Tuesday that the bear, named Arturo, is too elderly to make the nearly 6,000-mile journey. Scroll down for video . Denied: Despite a high-profile campaign to move him, Arturo the polar bear is to remain in a zoo in Argentina . Depressed: Animal advocates have claimed the 28-year-old polar bear is showing signs of stress after his partner died two years ago . Pronotto said that to make the two-day journey, Arturo would have to be sedated which carries risk for an animal his age. 'Arturo is close to his caretakers. We just want everyone to stop bothering the bear,' he said. He added that the behaviors which others had highlighted as signs that the animal was in distress were merely down to his age. A team of vets in Argentina ruled in February that the polar bear should remain in the zoo. Arturo's plight came to the attention of animal rights advocates, who dubbed him 'the world's saddest animal' when they launched a petition to call for him to be moved. The polar bear has been alone in his enclosure since his partner, Pelusa, died of cancer in 2012. Visitors to the zoo, and animal experts, had reported seeing him pacing nervously in his concrete enclosure, and appearing to struggle with the high temperatures. Concerns: Mendoza Zoo officials say the bear is too elderly to make the journey from Argentina to Canada . Alone: Arturo is the only polar bear in Argentina and has shown signs of depression . Hope: Campaigners wanted Arturo moved to Assiniboine Zoo, above, which has a large plunge pool and spacious enclosure for its bears . Friends: Arturo is the only polar bear in Argentina, but if the zoo had allowed him to relocate he could have interacted with others at the Canadian zoo, above . He has been seen tilting his head and showing his teeth while pacing back and forth, and rocking from side to side - all behaviors widely believed to be symptoms of stress. Greenpeace and other environmental groups argue that it is riskier to keep the bear in Mendoza, where . temperatures can reach up to 86F in the summer. The last polar bear to die in Argentina did so during a heatwave in 2012. Currently, Arturo has only a shallow pool, said to be only 20in deep, to provide cooling water. But Assiniboine Zoo in Winnipeg, where campaigners wanted the bear moved, has a ten-acre facility that provides as natural an environment as possible for polar bears. Its $84 million Journey to Churchill exhibit focuses on education and conservation, and the polar bears living there have more space to roam and a more natural setting. And, when temperatures in Winnipeg get too hot for the arctic creatures, the zoo's bears have access to a deep, rocky pool. The Sea Ice Passage is 21 metres long, 3 metres wide and 2.5 metres deep and, while the bears dive and splash around, visitors can watch them through a tunnel that goes underneath the exhibit. Flat out: Arturo sits in a concrete enclosure at Mendoza Zoo in Argentina in temperatures of up to 104F and is said to have been depressed since his long-term friend Pelusa died two years ago . Observations: Experts claim the 28-year-old's lonely life is causing him to display 'abnormal behavior', including tilting his head and showing his teeth while pacing back and forth and rocking from side to side . Thick coat: Animal rights activists now want Arturo - whose only access to cooling water in his enclosure is said to be a pool just 20in (50cm) deep - moved to another zoo that offers cooler conditions . For Arturo, it would have been a . chance to experience something closer to the wild, and to have . interaction with his own species for the first time in two years. 'His current living situation is very sad, and he deserves to be saved,' a statement on the Change petition site said. The petition called on Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, to give her approval for the bear to be moved. The campaign has quickly gathered in momentum, with more than half a million supporters signing the petition by Tuesday. It . has also been given support by U.S. politicians, including former House . Speaker Newt Gingrich, who highlighted the case on his Facebook page. Under . a video clip showing the depressed-looking polar bear, Gingrich wrote: . 'If you love animals the way I do, please sign the petition to help the . Argentinian polar bear, Arturo.' Still in Argentina: Mendoza Zoo blocked an effort five months ago to move Assiniboine Park Zoo in Canada . Heavy: At Mendoza Zoo, Arturo is served 33lb of meat per day, and all the fruit and vegetables he can eat. He also loves honey. And if his caretakers are late, Arturo growls to draw their attention . The singer Cher, also backed the bear on Twitter, posting: ‘Don’t cry for him, Argentina? No . tears of Mrs Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for tortured polar bear . Arturo. Your hands are stained with his blood when he dies.’ Mariana . Caram of environmental group OIKOS-Red Ambiental, said her organization . was trying to challenge the findings of the vet panel that recommended . the bear should stay. 'I . saw the bear last Thursday. He came out and he swam just a bit. He’s . walking very slowly,' she said. 'They’ve expanded his pool but they . still have yet to give him the room he needs to walk.' Zoo director Pronotto has said that considering Arturo's age, he was in ‘good condition’, and that the life expectancy of one of the animals is just over 20 years - but in captivity, they often live to 30. ‘We must avoid a big mistake, like his death during the trip or upon arrival. One must evaluate the risks carefully. He is old, and this would require many hours of anesthesia,' he said. Sad case: Arturo - Spanish for Arthur - has been at the zoo for two decades, and has had no contact with his own kind since Pelusa died. Now, campaigners are worried that he is suffering mental health issues . Campaign: Singer Cher tweeted her support for the campaign to help Arturo . Greenpeace had gathered 160,000 . signatures in a campaign to transfer Arturo urgently to Canada, which it . said has weather that more closely resembles what occurs in his natural . habitat. Argentinian . professor Fernanda Arentsen, who teaches at Université de Saint-Boniface . in Winnipeg, has written to her government and the Canadian Embassy in . Buenos Aires over the issue. She . told the Winnipeg Free Press last year: ‘You can see he is going crazy. He moves the way polar bears do when they are suffering a lot of . stress. ‘He has been filmed rocking back and forth in a way that signals distress. It breaks my heart to see it. I’m from Mendoza. I know how hot summer is. There is no way for him to escape the heat. Not going: Greenpeace had gathered 160,000 signatures in a campaign to transfer Arturo urgently to Canada, which it said has weather that more closely resembles what occurs in his natural habitat . ‘He looks so sad. He looks in pain. You can imagine a polar bear in the desert with a swimming pool 50cm deep. It’s difficult to watch this poor animal suffering and in pain.’ Arturo, a 900lb (400kg) bear born in the U.S. in 1985, arrived in 1993 in Mendoza, a city of 120,000 at the foot of the Andes, known for its wine production. At Mendoza Zoo, Arturo is served 33lb of meat per day, and all the fruit and vegetables he can eat. He also loves honey. And if his caretakers are late, Arturo growls to draw their attention. As the zoo’s mascot, he has an air-conditioned 375 sq ft enclosure, a 5,400 sq ft beach and a swimming pool in which his guards throw blocks of ice to keep it cool. A spokesman for Mendoza Zoo did not immediately respond to a MailOnline request for comment.
Zoo directors say 28-year-old animal is too old to make two-day journey .
Bear is showing signs of stress since his partner died in 2012 .
Animal rights campaigners petitioned Argentina's president to have bear moved to Canadian zoo with spacious, natural-looking enclosure .
Argentina has refused to relocate its lonely polar bear to a wildlife park that specializes in the species, despite a petition by more than half a million people. Animal rights activists had been calling on the 28-year-old animal to be moved to a zoo in Winnipeg, Canada, over claims that it was showing signs of stress. But Gustavo Pronotto, director of Mendoza Zoo, said Tuesday that the bear, named Arturo, is too elderly to make the nearly 6,000-mile journey. Scroll down for video . Denied: Despite a high-profile campaign to move him, Arturo the polar bear is to remain in a zoo in Argentina . Depressed: Animal advocates have claimed the 28-year-old polar bear is showing signs of stress after his partner died two years ago . Pronotto said that to make the two-day journey, Arturo would have to be sedated which carries risk for an animal his age. 'Arturo is close to his caretakers. We just want everyone to stop bothering the bear,' he said. He added that the behaviors which others had highlighted as signs that the animal was in distress were merely down to his age. A team of vets in Argentina ruled in February that the polar bear should remain in the zoo. Arturo's plight came to the attention of animal rights advocates, who dubbed him 'the world's saddest animal' when they launched a petition to call for him to be moved. The polar bear has been alone in his enclosure since his partner, Pelusa, died of cancer in 2012. Visitors to the zoo, and animal experts, had reported seeing him pacing nervously in his concrete enclosure, and appearing to struggle with the high temperatures. Concerns: Mendoza Zoo officials say the bear is too elderly to make the journey from Argentina to Canada . Alone: Arturo is the only polar bear in Argentina and has shown signs of depression . Hope: Campaigners wanted Arturo moved to Assiniboine Zoo, above, which has a large plunge pool and spacious enclosure for its bears . Friends: Arturo is the only polar bear in Argentina, but if the zoo had allowed him to relocate he could have interacted with others at the Canadian zoo, above . He has been seen tilting his head and showing his teeth while pacing back and forth, and rocking from side to side - all behaviors widely believed to be symptoms of stress. Greenpeace and other environmental groups argue that it is riskier to keep the bear in Mendoza, where . temperatures can reach up to 86F in the summer. The last polar bear to die in Argentina did so during a heatwave in 2012. Currently, Arturo has only a shallow pool, said to be only 20in deep, to provide cooling water. But Assiniboine Zoo in Winnipeg, where campaigners wanted the bear moved, has a ten-acre facility that provides as natural an environment as possible for polar bears. Its $84 million Journey to Churchill exhibit focuses on education and conservation, and the polar bears living there have more space to roam and a more natural setting. And, when temperatures in Winnipeg get too hot for the arctic creatures, the zoo's bears have access to a deep, rocky pool. The Sea Ice Passage is 21 metres long, 3 metres wide and 2.5 metres deep and, while the bears dive and splash around, visitors can watch them through a tunnel that goes underneath the exhibit. Flat out: Arturo sits in a concrete enclosure at Mendoza Zoo in Argentina in temperatures of up to 104F and is said to have been depressed since his long-term friend Pelusa died two years ago . Observations: Experts claim the 28-year-old's lonely life is causing him to display 'abnormal behavior', including tilting his head and showing his teeth while pacing back and forth and rocking from side to side . Thick coat: Animal rights activists now want Arturo - whose only access to cooling water in his enclosure is said to be a pool just 20in (50cm) deep - moved to another zoo that offers cooler conditions . For Arturo, it would have been a . chance to experience something closer to the wild, and to have . interaction with his own species for the first time in two years. 'His current living situation is very sad, and he deserves to be saved,' a statement on the Change petition site said. The petition called on Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, to give her approval for the bear to be moved. The campaign has quickly gathered in momentum, with more than half a million supporters signing the petition by Tuesday. It . has also been given support by U.S. politicians, including former House . Speaker Newt Gingrich, who highlighted the case on his Facebook page. Under . a video clip showing the depressed-looking polar bear, Gingrich wrote: . 'If you love animals the way I do, please sign the petition to help the . Argentinian polar bear, Arturo.' Still in Argentina: Mendoza Zoo blocked an effort five months ago to move Assiniboine Park Zoo in Canada . Heavy: At Mendoza Zoo, Arturo is served 33lb of meat per day, and all the fruit and vegetables he can eat. He also loves honey. And if his caretakers are late, Arturo growls to draw their attention . The singer Cher, also backed the bear on Twitter, posting: ‘Don’t cry for him, Argentina? No . tears of Mrs Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for tortured polar bear . Arturo. Your hands are stained with his blood when he dies.’ Mariana . Caram of environmental group OIKOS-Red Ambiental, said her organization . was trying to challenge the findings of the vet panel that recommended . the bear should stay. 'I . saw the bear last Thursday. He came out and he swam just a bit. He’s . walking very slowly,' she said. 'They’ve expanded his pool but they . still have yet to give him the room he needs to walk.' Zoo director Pronotto has said that considering Arturo's age, he was in ‘good condition’, and that the life expectancy of one of the animals is just over 20 years - but in captivity, they often live to 30. ‘We must avoid a big mistake, like his death during the trip or upon arrival. One must evaluate the risks carefully. He is old, and this would require many hours of anesthesia,' he said. Sad case: Arturo - Spanish for Arthur - has been at the zoo for two decades, and has had no contact with his own kind since Pelusa died. Now, campaigners are worried that he is suffering mental health issues . Campaign: Singer Cher tweeted her support for the campaign to help Arturo . Greenpeace had gathered 160,000 . signatures in a campaign to transfer Arturo urgently to Canada, which it . said has weather that more closely resembles what occurs in his natural . habitat. Argentinian . professor Fernanda Arentsen, who teaches at Université de Saint-Boniface . in Winnipeg, has written to her government and the Canadian Embassy in . Buenos Aires over the issue. She . told the Winnipeg Free Press last year: ‘You can see he is going crazy. He moves the way polar bears do when they are suffering a lot of . stress. ‘He has been filmed rocking back and forth in a way that signals distress. It breaks my heart to see it. I’m from Mendoza. I know how hot summer is. There is no way for him to escape the heat. Not going: Greenpeace had gathered 160,000 signatures in a campaign to transfer Arturo urgently to Canada, which it said has weather that more closely resembles what occurs in his natural habitat . ‘He looks so sad. He looks in pain. You can imagine a polar bear in the desert with a swimming pool 50cm deep. It’s difficult to watch this poor animal suffering and in pain.’ Arturo, a 900lb (400kg) bear born in the U.S. in 1985, arrived in 1993 in Mendoza, a city of 120,000 at the foot of the Andes, known for its wine production. At Mendoza Zoo, Arturo is served 33lb of meat per day, and all the fruit and vegetables he can eat. He also loves honey. And if his caretakers are late, Arturo growls to draw their attention. As the zoo’s mascot, he has an air-conditioned 375 sq ft enclosure, a 5,400 sq ft beach and a swimming pool in which his guards throw blocks of ice to keep it cool. A spokesman for Mendoza Zoo did not immediately respond to a MailOnline request for comment.
calling on the 28-year-old animal to be moved to is showing signs of stress after his partner died two-day journey, Arturo would have to be sedated since his partner, Pelusa, died of cancer in officials say the bear is too elderly to make the coat: Animal rights activists now want Arturo -