Bear Forest Müritz
The Bear Forest Müritz is a bear protection center near Stuer on the southern tip of the Plauer See in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . It was opened in October 2006 and is a project of the animal welfare organization Vier Pfoten . The bear forest offers bears that have been poorly kept a species-appropriate home. With a total area of 16 hectares, the Müritz Bear Forest is Western Europe's largest bear protection center.
background
Bears in captivity can no longer be released into the wild . They are too dependent on humans and would not survive in the wild. Due to poor husbandry conditions, many are severely behavioral. The Müritz Bear Forest offers such bears an alternative. Here they can rediscover instincts and their natural behavior.
A principle of all four paws bear projects is that the bears are not displayed here. Contact with humans is reduced to a necessary minimum so that the brown bear has the opportunity to create his own daily routine.
After the animals have been brought to the bear park, the former bear owners undertake to hand over the animals to Vier Pfoten not to purchase or keep any more bears.
In the bear woods no Following is breeding of wild animals in captivity operated. All male bears are neutered .
The park
The Bears
17 brown bears live in the Müritz Bear Forest . The first two bears in the bear forest were the siblings Lothar and Sindi. They came to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in October 2006 from the Black Forest Park in Löffingen . Three more brown bears from the Black Forest Park, the bear Maya and her sons Ben and Felix, were relocated in 2007. By 2010 the number of bears rose to ten. At the end of May 2011, the brown bear Bruno, a former circus bear, came from the Lübeck Zoo , which was closed in 2010 . He was put to sleep on July 30, 2011 after his condition had deteriorated progressively since July 27, 2011. The bears Kasia and Basia were brought to the bear forest in June 2011. They had previously been kept in a zoo in Leszno (Poland) on an area of 60 square meters. In June 2020, the brown bear Mary had to be euthanized at the age of 34.
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. 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 "socialized" in the Müritz Bear Forest - they live together in small groups. This has a positive effect on the behavior of the individual animals. Behavioral disorders also decrease faster through social contact and occupation with one another.
The enclosure
The enclosures offer the bears a habitat that meets their natural requirements. The facility covers a total of 16 hectares. Each bear has about 5000 square meters available. Mixed forest, meadows, a natural stream, large ponds and employment opportunities are freely accessible to the bears.
For visitors
Visitors can find out about the life of the animals at stations in the area. Supervised tours and lectures draw attention to the topic of private wild animal husbandry in Germany and the animal protection work of Vier Pfoten associated with it . In the summer of 2009, the bear forest had 54,000 visitors. In the first ten months of 2016 alone there were over 83,000, and since then around 90,000 visitors have come every year.
Web links
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bärenwald Müritz on the NDR website from June 16, 2011
- ↑ New bear in the Müritz Bear Forest from April 9, 2019 in Focus.de
- ↑ How are the Löffinger bears 3 years after their rescue? In: Badische Zeitung of August 24, 2010
- ↑ Kai Dordowsky: "Bruno" has arrived in his new home In: Lübecker Nachrichten of May 31, 2011, p. 9
- ↑ Michael Hollinde, Josephine von Zastrow: Brown bear "Bruno" is dead: mourning Lübeck's darling . In: Lübecker Nachrichten of August 2, 2011, p. 9
- ↑ Kasia and Basia in safety - FOUR PAWS has transferred the two bears from Poland to the BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz ( memento of the original from June 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Umweltjournal.de of June 14, 2011
- ↑ Brown bear Mary died at an advanced age , from June 23, 2020 in Nordkurier.de
- ↑ Visit to the Müritz Bear Forest on the website of n-tv from May 14, 2010
- ↑ 10 years of the Müritz Bear Forest , in: Müritzportal, October 26, 2016.
- ↑ Rescued brown bears find a new home here , in: Die Welt, April 17, 2019.
Coordinates: 53 ° 23 ′ 14 " N , 12 ° 19 ′ 35" E