Bear Sanctuaries Around The World

Bears are under threat from man’s activities the world over. Their habitats are being destroyed as forests are cut down to make way for towns, cities and agricultural crops; they are hunted for sport and as pests; they are killed for their skin, paws, meat and gall bladders, and they are caught alive for use in a variety of entertainments.

 De beer zit vast aan een ketting!
 
All 8 species of bears are kept in captivity for various reasons such as in zoos, in circuses, in wildlife parks and as pets. Thousands of bears are kept in appalling captive conditions on bear farms in Asia, for use in bear-baiting events and also as dancing bears.
There are now many campaigns under way around the world to protect bears from cruelty in the wild and in captivity, and one of the methods becoming more widely used to enable the rescue of bears from illegal and cruel exploitation is the creation of Bear Sanctuaries.
A bear sanctuary is a large forested enclosure, surrounded by protective fences, where bears rescued from poor captive conditions can spend their remaining years in a natural environment. Here they can (often for the first time in their lives) swim in water pools, climb trees and dig hibernation dens in the earth.
In iedere kooi een beer die twee keer per dag via een fistel wordt getapt voor gal
 
In the majority of cases the rescued bears are old, have teeth, claw or eyesight problems, and have been in captivity too long to consider trying to release them back to the wild as they simply would not survive. The sanctuary is therefore like a retirement home for them.
Sanctuary staff monitor the health and behaviour of the rescued animals and provide veterinary treatment where needed and food to supplement the natural diet the bears find in the forested sanctuary enclosures.
The first bear sanctuaries were created in Greece and Turkey in the early 1990s. They enabled the Greek and Turkish authorities to eradicate the cruel and illegal dancing bear trade in their countries by providing a protected forest home for all the rescued bears.
Bear sanctuaries have since been built in countries such as Thailand, Pakistan, India, Germany and even China, to care for bears rescued from cruel captive conditions such as bear-baiting, dancing bears and from the cruelty of bear farming. The latest bear sanctuary to be built is the Libearty Bear Sanctuary in central Romania.

 

Bear Sanctuaries Around the World

There are a number of bear sanctuaries helping to rescue and care for bears around the world. Some are included below. More links will be added to this page as information is gathered:

 Heerlijk genieten! Gered uit de berengalindustrie in Vietnam