With financial help of Bears in Mind, four young Sloth bears were rescued and brought to the shelter of the Karuna Society for Animals and Nature (2009). The purpose of this organization is to provide a first and safe haven for the bears. The organization has close contact with the government and the larger rescue centers in India. Once there is permanent place for the bear(s), it will be moved to one of the specialized centers. Besides bears, the Karuna Society for Animals and Nature also rescues other (wild) animals. Animals are reintroduced back into the wild whenever this is possible. Bears however, have often been in contact with humans for too long and will become too habituated to people, making release in the wild impossible.
Three zoo bears were illegally released in the wild in Serbia in 2002 and one of them was a three-legged bear. This bear had attacked a farmer, who was able to catch the bear. Bears in Mind and Serbian NGO ‘ARKA’ were able to move the bear to the bear shelter in Banostor, Novi Sad. For the other two bears help came too late; hunters had already killed them.
The idea was to bring the 3-legged bear, named Elvis, to the Bear Forest in The Netherlands. In the end, Bears in Mind did not succeed in this. Obtaining the certificates of ownership and export permission (CITES) from Serbia proved impossible. To improve the welfare of Elvis and the other bears in the Banostor bear shelter, Bears in Mind financed the extension of the shelter. An outdoor enclosure was developed with a nice pond for the bears to swim in.
Elvis spent a happy time there, until he died in 2011.
Two circus bears were ‘rescued’ by a Spanish NGO and brought to their ‘sanctuary’ called El Arca de Noé near Benidorm. The female turned out to be pregnant and gave birth to two cubs. The bear family was confined to a small and filthy cage at the shelter and lived under dreadful conditions. The bears did not get proper food and water, and didn’t receive any vet care. Besides to the bears, many other ‘rescued’ animals were confined to a life of suffering.
Early in 2009, Bears in Mind received a Bear Alert about these bears. After a thorough preparation, the bears were rescued and transported to the Bear Forest in Rhenen, just before Christmas of 2009!
After the authorities closed-down the shelter, two dozen lions, tigers, jaguars, puma, leopards, smaller cat species, but also chimps needed a new home. Most were relocated to Spanish zoos or shelters, amongst them the Primadomus sanctuary operated by AAP.
A new life for the bear family In the Bear Forest the bears started a completely new life. First they had to stay in quarantaine to get used to their new surroundings and receive a complete medical check-up. The bears’ teeth were checked and treated. As a result of the horrible living conditions and bad food, their teeth were severely damaged, which meant that several teeth had te be extracted. Two bears received rootcanal treatments. The two older bears (Bruce & Ronja), one of them blind and one deaf, could succesfully be introduced in the Bear Forest in July 2010 where they truly enjoyed the space, the pond and the company of the other bears! The two young bears, Pepe and Pedro, were relocated to bear sanctuaries in Germany.
Unfortunately, old bear Bruce died in the summer of 2011. He had a fantastic year before he passed away. He loved swimming and played a lot with the other, much younger, bears of the Bear Forest, despite the fact that he was blind. Bear Ronja died at the end of 2012 due to a brain tumor.
Blind Bruce in his former prison…Bruce on the left and Duuk on the right.Ronja enjoying a bath in the pond of the Bear Forest.
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 34 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 2024, 7 bears inhabit the Bear Forest: two from a former hunting farm in Bulgaria, two 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 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.
Bear Alert is developed by the coalition of Bears in Mind and Foundation for Bears 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 and Foundation for Bears have gathered information on more than 800 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. And some 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 the foundation’s staff will consult with their 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.
The coalition launched Bear Alert as a new platform in 2024. More easy to use on a smartphone, with more and better direct sharing possibilities, so we can help these captive bears in a more efficient way.
Semperviva is a Bulgarian organization which started to breed livestock uarding dogs again. Every year, one or two litters of puppies are raised. When the puppies are old enough they are taken (for free) to pre-selected shepherds, who sign an agreement confirming their understanding of how to take care of the dogs. The dogs need to work in pairs and very often a younger pup is trained by an adult dog. With its follow-up programme Semperviva checks on the dogs twice a year until they are confident that the dogs behaviour is appropriate. Bears in Mind funded the breeding project between 2002-2011.
In the old days, the Karakachan dog breed was used specially to protect flocks of sheep. The Semperviva programme makes it possible for shepherds to obtain a puppy and receive training in how to care for the dogs and use them to protect their livestock. Every year, a dozen puppies were placed in the eastern part of the Rhodopy mountains in Bulgaria. Furthermore, the number of attacks by bears and wolves before and after the introduction of the dogs are compared. Over the years, it has been proven that flocks accompanied by these dogs have suffered substantially less losses to large carnivores.
In 2008 Indian wildlife NGO ‘WildlifeSOS’ started the training of rangers under the project: ‘Asiatic black bear Conservation Education and Training Programme in Kashmir, India’. They were trained to deal with the capture of bears and other wild animals. Practice with a tranquilizer gun was very important. In addition, they were also trained in dealing with angry mobs that wanted to kill bears or leopards that came too close, also in retalliation as resulting in conflicts. Wild animals should be calmly approached and treated. This minimizes stress levels and is safer for the ranger / handler. There are a number of trained people now in almost every region of the project. They respond immediately, as soon as a bear incident is reported.
Local people learn about the behaviour of wild animals and how they can avoid conflicts. Once there has been an incident with a bear or other wild animal somewhere, village meetings are held. The people of WildlifeSOS explain how the bears can be kept as far from the villages as possible. They also teach the communities how to avoid bears in the future and urge them to report every bear incident as quickly as possible. Even schoolchildren are included in the education programme. They learn about bears, how beautiful they are, but also how important they are to the ecosystem. Through workshops and training the locals will have a more positive attitude towards bears. Moreover, their fear for bears will decrease. Almost every bear incident is reported, unlike before. In the past the only message that came from the village with a bear incident was that the bear had been burned alive or stoned to death. Not only bears benefit from this project; virtually no other wild animal in this area has been killed by the locals ever since it started.
The main aim of the project in 2008-2009 was to collect information that will enable a preliminary assessment of the current status of brown bears in Albania and Macedonia. Field surveys were carried out during which indirect signs of bear presence (i.e. tracks, scats, feeding signs etc.) were collected. In addition, a new non-invasive study method developed in Greece was used. This method is based on the marking behaviour of bears and uses signs (i.e. marks, bites, hair, mud prints) found on power poles to document the presence of the species in a given area. As marks and bites stay on wooden poles for a long time, they provide information not only on the current status of bear populations but also on the cumulative history of the presence of the species. By attaching barbed wire to these poles, hair was easily collected and later used for DNA analysis.
In Macedonia the project team did not find any bears in captivity. In Albania, however, dozens of captive bears were identified. They are kept in small, badly-managed zoos or in cages near restaurants or petrol stations. Most animals are kept in extremely small cages en receive poor quality food and only little water. Keeping a restaurant bear is extremely popular and the demand for young animals is increasing. The cubs are mostly captured in the wild. This puts a strain on the wild population. Bears in Mind and several partners, together with the Albanian government, are looking into the solutions to these problems.
In the spring of 2009, three orphaned Asiatic black bears were taken to a small animal sanctuary in Far East Russia. The bears, one female and her two brothers, have been part of an intensive rehabilitation programme between 2009 and 2011. They were prepared for a life in the wild. During this period the three bears have been ‘guided’ around the woods by two researchers. During these sessions, the guides were wearing camouflage clothing and they did not speak. By means of photographs, sound and image recordings, the researchers have been able to follow the development of the bears in detail.
In 2010, the bears were released into the wild. Just before their release, the two males weighed between 20 and 23 kilos, while the female weighed around 8 kilos. All three bears are wearing radiocollars with a transmitter, enabling the researchers to keep track on the bears. In the forest, a chance meeting with a Siberian tiger or an adult bear is very likely.In the time since their release, the bear were followed closely and did well. After two years, the collars automatically fell off.
The project has proven to be a great success and a lot of vital information about adolescent rehabilitated bears has been gathered and shared.
There is much discussion about whether rehabilitated bears are likely to become problem bears. Therefore, data collected in this project is of paramount importance to this discussion. Of course we would prefer to be able to release orphaned bears in the wild again, rather than putting them in captivity for the rest of their lives. However, we must be absolutely certain that the rehabilitation process has no negative impact on their natural behaviour, increasing the chances of the released bear becoming a ‘problem bear’.
Between 2008 and 2013, a total of 19 bears have been equipped with GPS/GSM collars in order to assess the suitability of rehabilitated bears for reintroduction in the natural habitats. Ten of these bears were reared in the Romanian Rehabilitation Center (developed by Bear Again) and nine were wild caught individuals of two behavior categories: (1) wild behaving juveniles and (2) individuals with different degrees of habituation to anthropogenic food sources. The project revealed and proved that reintroduction of the rehabilitated bears into the wild is successful and without any threatening impact on the wild population. The survival rate of the rehabilitated tracked bears was around 50% (it is 55% considering all the rehabilitated bears). This is according with the survival rate of juvenile wild bears in the literature. One of the most important regulating factors can be considered the infanticide killing by adult male bears. An important threat is poaching.
Monitoring the bears and collar results is still ongoing.
2020 onwards One of the basics of the rehabilitation technique is keeping the cubs in a system of several enclosures that offer 100% natural habitat. In this environment, the bears can develop their inborn instincts during a 1 – 1,5 years of rehab period. The facilities are surrounded by electrical fences. The electrical fence on one hand keeps the young bears inside the facilities and keeps intruder adult male bears or other predators out. The main aim of the support offered by Bears in Mind to this project has been directed towards improvement of the total electrical system of the Rehab Centre in order to keep the cubs safe, improve data communication and decrease the risk of depredation by males from outside. Next to that, the development of several remote cableway feeding systems have been sponsored. This allows the team from Bear Again to get the food to the bear cubs without being noticed. This way, these bears won’t associate food with people, an important lession for their future!
