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The original white Bengal tigers lived in a somewhat similar situation when discovered. There was a single population, much less well known even in their homeland than these bears, and the only reason any survived was the local low-tier royalty could afford to put out extra meat. Contrary to so, so many starry-eyed "legends" I keep running into online, white tigers were not and are not Siberian in origin. I've always thought the gene that scrubs off the orange might be useful in the Siberian population, but apparently Nature disagrees. Many white tigers now are subspecies hybrids (useless for repopulation programs) and the subject of endless argument over whether they should continue to be (in)bred in captivity at all.
These bears appear to have had a good deal going for a long time. And I'd bet their living conditions now are the best they've ever been. Besides, if you ask the average kid "Do you wanna go see a castle where the moat isn't full of water because bears live in it?" the average kid is probably gonna break the sound barrier getting to their parents' car, where they'll GPS the castle and start yelling about when can they leave to go see the bear moat!
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