Bears in Mind has supported the development of the Large Carnivore Education Centre in Vlahi, in the Pirin Mountains. Various other projects in this region (see links to the projects below) have also been supported. After completion, the centre has been in full use. Not only school children, but also students and tourists visit the centre to learn about Bulgarian wildlife which features information on the countries carnivores. A small shop has been opened and visitors can enjoy coffee and a snack in the small café. On the second floor an interactive exhibition is set up, highlighting examples of conflicts between humans and carnivores and their possible solutions. In addition, a room is converted to make it suitable for workshops and (small) conferences.
Near the educational centre the bear enclosure for former circusbear Medo and bear Buya (from Kormisosh) was built. At the beginning of August 2019 these bears have been relocated to a new home in Northern Italy.
Especially zoos (in non-western countries where bears often still live in concrete-steel cages), governments and NGOs who want to start a large naturalistic bear enclosure or sanctuary, can enhance their knowledge by using the website: www.largebearenclosures.com It is a so-called ‘living’ document and is continually updated by using the feedback form experts in the field and experience of Bears in Mind staff.
The website is divided in three sections. The first part gives information about building a large naturalistic bear enclosure such as The Bear Forest, materials used and the design of the sanctuary (including vegetation, water management and dens). The second part focuses on managing such a big semi-natural enclosure. Aspects mentioned are among others feeding and husbandry, enrichment, education and research. In the third part extensive information on veterinary aspects regarding captive bears can be found. From castrations, parasites and anaesthesia to dental treatment. The practicality of the website ensures succesful keeping and treatment of bears with relatively basic tools.
THE WEBSITE IS CURRENTLY ‘UNDER CONSTRUCTION‘.
Although brown bears are legally protected in Albania, many wild bears are poached and very little is done to control poaching activities. Keeping bears in captivity is also forbidden by law. However, research carried out by the local partner in Albania ‘PPNEA’ in 2014, indicated that a total of at least 41 bears are kept under sub-optimal conditions. Poor law enforcement as well as endemic corruption in the country have led to a further decline in the wild bear population. According to estimates by the LCIE (Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe) the wild bear population in Albania varies between 180 and 250 individuals (2016).
Reasons for keeping bears To unveil the motivations behind and actors involved in this phenomenon PPNEA (financially supported by Bears in Mind) undertook a quantitative survey with visitors of premises that hold bears in captivity and qualitative group interviews in rural areas that are known as hotspots of bears’ capture and trade. The results indicated that the motivation of the local rural population in capturing and selling bears is mainly economic (bear cubs sell for amounts between 250 – 600 EUR / individual). However the captures are done randomly or when the chance is given and that regular hunting / trapping for this sole purpose seems to be non-exitent. This suggests that this activity is not a major source of income for locals and captured brown bear cubs seem to be a side phenomenon that reflects the general problems of hunting management and law enforcement in the country. On the other hand, a more problematic issue is that there is a general interest to visit places where bears are exposed and the figures are frightening. Only 20% of respondents declared that they do not have any interest to visit a restaurant / cafe because of the bear presence. In addition there also exists a misconception among the population that the captive bears are a touristic asset for the country. The data shows that almost 70% of respondents believe that the bears in captivity attract tourists; this is a much higher figure if compared to 45% of those who believe that the bear in nature attract more tourists.
There is also a low awareness level among visitors in respect to the illegality of capturing / keeping bears in captivity and protection status of the animal. Only 35% of respondents were aware of some vague legal protection status. These misconceptions about captive bears are major drivers that help such illegal business to operate. Furthermore the attitudes of the public are hostile in terms of undertaking any action to stop the illegal practise of maintaining captive bears in restaurants: 54% of interviewed persons where against the elimination and 64% of them will do nothing to solve the problem.
The low level of awareness among the general public in Albania is holding back potential solutions to the bear issues in Albania. Therefore the gap in knowledge should be filled by an effectively organized public-awareness campaign and social mobilization should follow up to try to stop the influx of captive bears in restaurants which subsequently will improve the situation for the wild population.
Future It is unclear what will happen to the many captive bears in Albania in the near future. Bears in Mind and her partners keep pushing the government to act and start developing a sanctuary to accommodate all the bears, but until now these attempts have proven unsuccessful. Once new developments will arise, it will be published on our website. Over the past years, many captive bears have been relocated to sanctuaries and zoos outside of Albania, by a number of NGOs. This does not solve the problem and the government has to step up and take responsibility.
Update 2022 Over the past ten years, all captive bears used for entertainment (like the restaurant bears) have been relocated to foreign sanctuaries and zoos. Longterm plans by the Albanian government to set up their own bear sanctuary and take responsibility for their captive bear problem, failed.
How it all started… The beginning of the idea and need to do something substantial for captive bears in Europe goes back more than 30 years. In 1990, Ouwehand Zoo in The Netherlands was asked by the Directorate-General (European Commission) to draw up a plan to accommodate several captive (ex-dancing) bears from Greece. Those would be confiscated following a change in legislation. The use of dancing bears as street entertainment was not only banned in Greece, but also in Turkey. In the years that followed (more than 200 bears needed to be rehomed), two large bear sanctuaries were built in the abovementioned countries and dozens of bears were saved under the LiBearty campaign set up by then WSPA and for Greece it was mainly ARCTUROS liberating dancing bears and providing them a new home.
Mackenzie in his cage in Bosnia HerzegovinaMackenzie being fed by Dutch UN soldiers
More bears needed a new home (amongst them three blind dancing bears from Turkey) and following the initial request by the EC, Ouwehand Zoo was able to finally answer this request with the start of the development of The Bear Forest, a sanctuary for mistreated European brown bears. A separate foundation was created to manage this bear sanctuary, and the International Bear Foundation was born when phase one was finished of this special project in April 1993. Two brown bears already in Ouwehand Zoo, moved in first: Geert & Trudy. Followed by the rescue of bears Mackenzie & Nelly from former Yugoslavia and the rescue of lonely bear Jo from a bear pit in Maastricht – The Netherlands. The three Turkish blind bears Bora, Koröglû & Fiona were rescued and introduced into their new forever homes during autumn of 1993. Many more bears would follow suit…
BoraKoröglûFiona
In the years since then, the foundation has had multiple names, but ever since 2016 they have been operating under the name ‘Bears in Mind’. Bears in Mind is a valued member of and operates within several network organizations like the IUCN (World Conservation Union), EAZA (European Association of Zoos & Aquaria), EARS (European Alliance of Rescue Centers & Sanctuaries) and the IBA (International Association for Bear Research & Management).
The Bear Forest sanctuary For 30 years now, the sanctuary for bears has been able to offer peaceful asylum to 35 brown bears in total. From circuses, private collections, theaters, film industry, road-side zoos to bears that were kept next to a restaurant or petrol station. Unfortunately, captive bears are found under many horrific and often shameful conditions. As of November 2023, 9 bears inhabit The Bear Forest: two from a former hunting farm in Bulgaria, three from war-torn Ukraine where they were kept next to a restaurant and a small children’s zoo until their rescue, one bear from a closed-down zoo in Georgia, one from a theater in Russia where the bear killed its trainer and had to be saved, one bear from private ownership in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one was from Sweden where she was kept as playing companion for a polar bear cub found on the sea ice and eventually both of them ended up in Ouwehand Zoo.
The bears live together with a small pack of four wolves. These animals are kept together in this mixed-species environment as a way of mimicking their natural environment. The interaction between wolves and bears stimulates the natural behavior of both species, beneficial for all. The wolves are mostly given meat, whereas the bears only eat little amounts of meat as part of their very diverse seasonal diet, based on what they would find in the wild. Bears in Mind introduced the Natural Feeding Program in 1999 and in the first year there was already a major difference noticeable in the behaviour of the bears, with many of them going into hibernation for the very first time! This was a clear sign that the natural behaviour of these traumatized animals could be restored if the right ‘tools’ and care was offered.
The sanctuary is 20,000m2 in size, has a large pool for the bears to drink/swim/cool down and play in, with a waterfall. It is part of the surrounding natural forest which borders the zoo and it has 11 artificial dens and two small wooden shacks for the bears to shelter from the weather or hibernate in. Before entering The Bear Forest, visitors are walking through ‘Karpatica’, a series of simulated Romanian-style houses with informative and interactive educational material for young and old. About the biology and ecology of bears in general, threats to bears and their habitat, and of course about Bears in Mind and their projects around the globe.
Since The Bear Forest is part of the general walking route through Ouwehand Zoo, almost one million visitors a year can view the bears and learn about them. This poses a huge opportunity to Bears in Mind, to try and reach these visitors and make them part of their conservation mission: to create a better world where bears and people can coexist in.
When bears received a protected status in 1993 and could no longer be hunted, the bears in Kormisosh did not have a ‘purpose’ anymore. They received no care and were ‘forgotten’ and left to die a miserable death. Since the mid 90s, the situation indeed only got worse and the bears that still lived in the former hunting station were literally rotting away.
Bears in Mind and her Bulgarian partner Balkani Wilidlife Society (BWS) worked closely with the responsible Bulgarian government to end this horrible suffering once and for all. The first priority was to give these bears basic medical care and to make sure they received proper food on a daily basis. In addition, a number of animal keepers were trained to take care of the bears. In close cooperation with the Bulgarian government and local NGOs, Bears in Mind found suitable, permanent homes for all the 14 remaining bears from Kormisosh. In May 2015 the two last bears – Keta and Mincho – were relocated to the Bear Forest in Rhenen. Kormisosh is no more!
www.bearalert.org
Bear Alert is developed by Bears in Mind to keep track of the many captive bears, often living under horrible conditions, in order to help as many individuals as possible. Over time, Bears in Mind has gathered information on more than 400 of these bears. Some of them have already been rescued from their miserable existence and brought to a sanctuary or zoo where proper care and space could be offered. Other bears unfortunately died before we could we do anything. But most of them still await a better life…
The individual reports about bears will be processed into a database. Short term solutions will be considered next. In most cases Bears in Mind staff will consult with her local partner NGO and / or with the owner of the animal to give advise on husbandry, food and water. Simple enrichment methods for the cages are used such as leafy tree branches or a play object. These methods are often cheap and easy to create and make the life of the bear somewhat more pleasant. In other cases, if legally possible, bears will be confiscated and relocated to a better facility.
Increased knowledge and awareness among local people regarding the lifestyle of bears is of great importance if we want to adequately protect wild animals like bears. Unfortunately, in Nepal, knowledge and awareness about these topics is still lacking. Therefore, education programmes for schools, training for the local people and an eco-club have been set up for this project between 2011-2014. The desired outcome from this training was that local people learned how to deal with bears within their immediate vicinity and received information regarding the protection of bears and nature in general. Multiple workshops for shepherds and civil servants were also organised under this programme.
More about bear research in Nepal Data relating to the bear population was collected through a wide range of different methods. Researchers interviewed people from the villages in the areas where conflicts between humans and bears occurred, DNA material is collected from hair samples and droppings, and tracks (such as claw marks on trees, footprints on the ground and traces of digging) were investigated. Information was also collected about the habitat such as the type of forest, slopes, the soil types and tracks of other animals. All of the information collected was processed and analysed via a specially developed computer program. The ultimate objective of this project was to contribute to the National Brown Bear Conservation Action Plan whose primary goal is to provide protection to the brown bear in Nepal. This is still an ongoing process.
Results The following has been achieved during the two projects in Nepal:
1) Presence/absence surveys of the brown bear in all potential areas of the corridor between Annapurna Conservation Area and Shey Phoksundo NP and within the protected areas. 2) Examine distribution and habitat use of brown bears in the study areas. 3) Investigate human-wildlife conflict in the region and quantify the damage and conflict created by brown bears. 4) Investigate the diet of brown bears and assess the percentage of livestock and other wild prey in the brown bear’s diet. 5) Draft the Brown Bear Conservation Action Plan for Nepal.
This project titled “Brown bear conservation and research program in a model area in Romania” is one of the longest continual projects supported by Bears in Mind, started in 2006. It has many topics, focusing on research on the bear population and conservation of bears in the Eastern Carpathians in Romania,with theaim to prevent bear-human conflicts. Damages caused by bears to livestock and crops are closely monitored. Research on denning behaviour and locations, knowledge about bear home ranges, movement and activity patterns, habitat use and food searching behaviour of the bears, is also carried out. Over the years, many bears have been fitted with radio collars to monitor their behaviour and gather as much data as possible.
Together with the help of local farmers, electric fences surrounding orchards and beehives are tested and placed. Milvus participates in public discussions on bears, organizes educational projects in schools, field excursions and develops educational material. They are mitigating plans for a new highway through prime bear habitat and have done extensive research on the impact on the population. Additionally, every year Milvus receives dozens of calls about orphaned (sometimes injured) bear cubs. After treatment by Vets4Wild (partner of Milvus), the cubs are sent to the rehabilitation centre run by Bear Again.
Improving the social acceptance of the species Since 2018, Bears in Mind provides funding for a campaign to improve the acceptance of bears in Romania. Through a ten-episode mini-series, Milvus aimes to spread correct and factual information on bears, to try to counterbalance the omnipresent negative rhetoric (and frequent misinformation) in the Hungarian and Romanian massmedia. Each episode was realized in both Hungarian and Romanian languages, with both versions having English subtitles (these can be switched on in YouTube, CC button for Episode 1, and are embedded in each subsequent episode). Each episode was shared on Milvus Group’s own Facebook page, on YouTube, as well as on the Milvus Group webpage. For the shares on our Facebook page, we also had funding to advertise each episode. Ten episodes have been produced:
