Bear forest Arbesbach
The Bear Forest Arbesbach (own spelling BÄRENWALD Arbesbach ) is a bear protection center near Arbesbach in the Lower Austrian district of Zwettl . The outdoor enclosure was opened in 1998 and is the first bear protection project of the animal welfare organization Vier Pfoten . The bear forest offers bears that are poorly kept in a behavior-appropriate way. Seven brown bears currently live here on a total of 14,000 square meters. Marbu, the last circus bear in Austria, also found a new home in Arbesbach. Since May 28, 2000, the facility has also been open to visitors from March to early November.
background
Bears in captivity can no longer be released into the wild . They are too used to humans and could cause considerable damage, which would probably result in the animal being shot down. Due to poor husbandry conditions, many are severely behavioral . The Arbesbach Bear Forest offers such bears the opportunity to rediscover instincts and their natural behavior.
A principle of all four paw bear projects is that the bears should not be displayed. Contact with people is reduced to a necessary minimum. The bears should have the opportunity to create their own daily routine.
After the animals have been brought into the bear forest, the former bear owners undertake to hand over the animals to Vier Pfoten not to buy or keep any more bears.
There is no captive breeding of wild animals in the bear forests. All male bears are neutered, as cubs that grow up under controlled conditions cannot be released into the wild.
The attachment
The richly structured area in the Arbesbach-Schönfeld natural landscape in Lower Austria's Waldviertel offers bears an animal-friendly home. The facility is divided into four sectors, which make it possible to separate the bears from each other and to move the animals to another area for feeding. The bears can live out their natural behavior here, bathing, digging, roaming around, climbing and keeping the typical winter rest . Video cameras make it possible to observe the bears in their burrows or secluded areas without disturbing the animals. The area was leased and in 1998 the first bear forest of the animal welfare organization Vier Pfoten was built. In 2009, the Arbesbach Bear Forest was expanded. A section of the enclosure was added and a visitor center built to provide information about the work of Vier Pfoten and its bear protection projects. In addition, the interactive circular route deals with the educational mission with regard to the brown bear in general and in Austria. The entire area of the protection center covers 14,000 m² and includes four large outdoor enclosures, which are several thousand square meters in size and offer natural habitats for the bears.
The Bears
There are currently seven brown bears living in the Arbesbach bear forest, including three Syrian brown bears (Jerry, Tom and Vinzenz) and four European brown bears (Brumca, Emma, Erich and Miri).
The first bears to move to the Arbesbach Bear Forest in 1998 were Liese and her brother Vinzenz (* 1988 in Slovenia) and Brumca (* 1992 in Slovakia). The siblings were kept in a concrete pit near a lift station as a visitor attraction for nine years, and Brumca was a gift from a Slovak businessman. It had to live for five years on 35 m² without a structure and was considered a prestige property. In 2000 the two former circus bears Tom and Jerry (* 1988 in the Czech Republic) were brought to the Arbesbach Bear Forest. In 2002, Lara (1980–2015), who was born in Germany, was added and in 2006 Marbu (1982–2007), Austria's last circus bear, moved to the Arbesbach Bear Forest. Marbu had to be euthanized in the summer of 2007 due to kidney failure . Lara had to be put to sleep in November 2015 because her musculoskeletal system deteriorated and she could no longer get up. At 35 she was the oldest female bear in the Arbesbach Bear Forest.
In 2011 a Jordanian bear child enriched the Arbesbach Bear Forest. Eddie (* 2010–2014) was born in a zoo in Amman and was separated from his mother shortly afterwards in order to sell him. When he was four months old, he was found by employees of the Bärenwald Arbesbach and the Princess Alia Foundation for short. In May 2011 Eddie was brought from Jordan to Austria to learn from conspecifics and to let go of his behavioral anomalies. A tragic accident happened on May 24, 2014: Eddie got so unhappy with the ropes attached to play, which were covered with tubes and plastic for safety reasons, panicked and suffocated.
On October 6, 2015, three more bears came to the Arbesbach Bear Forest. The three brown bears, which were still unnamed at the time, were relocated to Arbesbach from the Enghagen zoo, which was officially closed since 2012 (near Windischgarsten in Upper Austria). It was about a twelve year old mother bear with her two six year old cubs. In spring 2016 the mother bear was named Miri, the daughter bear Emma and the bear son's name Erich.
The bear Liese, one of the first three residents of the Arbesbach Bear Forest, had to be put to sleep in March 2017. She suffered from a malignant tumor. In June 2020, former circus bear Jerry had to be euthanized due to the aftereffects of his previous husbandry.
maintenance
Some bears have developed severe behavioral disorders during the long years of their captivity, which they only gradually dispose of under the new living conditions. For this, their living space is enriched in order to promote their natural behavior (Behavioral and Environmental Enrichment).
The aim is to create conditions for the animals that are based on their life in the wild. For example, the food is hidden so that the bear spends a large part of its time looking for food, just like in the wild. Care is taken to ensure that enough food is available for each bear so that there are no fights over the food.
Experienced animal keepers and wildlife veterinarians look after the bears individually so that they can recover from their health problems and stereotypical behavior. The behavior of the bears is observed and documented. Vier Pfoten works closely with scientists and universities.
Although brown bears are loners in the wild, they are sometimes "socialized" in the Arbesbach Bear Forest - they live together in small groups. This can have a positive effect on their behavior if you find the right partners. This is done very carefully so that no bear is stressed or even attacked the other. Under controlled conditions, the closeness of a conspecific can even be enriching.
The enclosure
In each sector of the 14,000 m² area there is a pond as well as winter caves and shelter for the animals. In the natural environment, the animals can rediscover their instincts and explore the enrichment objects provided for them, as well as spend most of the day searching for food.
For visitors
Visitors can get an insight into the everyday life of the bears. Supervised tours and lectures as well as exhibitions draw attention to the topic of private wild animal husbandry in Austria and the animal protection work of Vier Pfoten associated with it. An approx. 500 meter long circular path through the park and an exhibition area on the biology of bears are available. Children will find several playgrounds and a low rope course on the site. Special school tours as well as programs for children and young people are intended to sensitize the younger generations to the subject of bears in order to enable them to live “door to door” with wild bears in the future. Since 2017, the bear forest has offered visitors a garden with more than 20 different berries. A special 69-kilometer hiking trail, the Bear Trail, surrounds the sanctuary and leads to waterfalls, rocks and other attractions in the region. The Arbesbach Bear Forest is open to visitors every day from Easter to All Saints' Day. Part of the area can only be seen through glass panes or only accessible as part of guided tours in order to offer the animals a retreat.
target
The aim is to educate and enforce stricter husbandry guidelines for these animals. Bears are neither pets nor circus clowns. There is also no need to fear them if you know how to handle them properly and respect the animals' freedom. The bear should have a place in its ancestral home again, but a rethink must take place. Working with people is like animal welfare.
External projects
The Bärenwald Arbesbach team is also involved outside of the bear forest. For example in Wiener Neustadt , in whose city park collar bears were kept in a cage, improvement work could be carried out regularly in cooperation with the local keepers and assistance with regard to keeping bears appropriate to the bear was provided. The collar bear there, Ali, has since passed away. Everything was done to make the existing enclosure age-appropriate for her and to work out an employment program in cooperation with the zoo keeper there. Ali was now given her food every day according to her age, and stimulating impressions were created that enriched the she-bear's everyday life. The collar bear accepted the changes with great interest. In 2012 she had to be euthanized due to organ failure . Wiener Neustadt has given “Vier Pfoten” a written assurance that it will no longer keep any bears.
Web links
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the side of Vier Pfoten Austria
- ↑ a b [1] The bears are loose - in the bear forest, In: derStandard. May 13, 2009.
- ↑ a b Bear Forest Arbesbach
- ^ Transport of the Jordanian bear orphan Eddie to Arbesbach
- ↑ Arbesbach: First female bear euthanized on ORF from March 10, 2017, accessed on March 10, 2017
- ^ Bärenwald Arbesbach mourns the loss of "Jerry" on June 4, 2020 in Orf.at
- ↑ Pictures by and at bears , accessed on June 4, 2019.
Coordinates: 48 ° 28 '50.6 " N , 14 ° 55' 36" E