National Bear Awareness Week – Are You Bear Aware?
11th May 2016
From Winnie-the-Pooh to Yogi, the beloved bear has been a part of many a childhood over the years – even for those who have never been lucky enough to see one in real life. This week, it’s time to celebrate these unique and wonderful creatures through National Bear Awareness Week – a campaign held by the organisation Defenders of Wildlife who are keen to draw attention to the plight of the bear in our modern world. National Bear Awareness Week is held during the third week of May each year. Zoos, libraries, nature centres and alternative wildlife agencies all over the globe play their part in educating the world so we can understand more about these, often misunderstood, animals.
This year, we are particularly excited about Bear Awareness Week, thanks to the addition of our two newest guests to our wildlife community at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. Our spectacled bear brothers, Tupa and Sonco, have travelled all the way from Frankfurt Zoo in Germany and are now happily settled in their specially designed, 2-acre enclosure. However, the stark reality for the wild bear is that they may not always have such a happy ending. And sadly, a large part of this is due to the influence humans have on their lives. Building new roads, planting crops and farming cattle are all activities that are occurring at an alarming rate, destroying the homes of the bears we all know and love. Additionally, some people hunt bears because they believe them to be a threat or want to trade their skins, claws or gall bladders.
Here at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, we are proud supporters of the Andean Bear Foundation, raising awareness for the conservation of the Andean (or spectacled) bears. If you believe that these beautiful animals are worth protecting, why not take a look at their website to see how you can make a donation to help with the work they do? We would also love you to get involved with our efforts to help people become more ‘bear aware’! In celebration of National Bear Awareness Week, we will be educating people about bears on social media with a special ‘fact of the day’ as well as running a fun caption competition that any of our followers can participate in. If you want to get up close and personal with some real life bears in honour of National Bear Awareness week, pay us a visit at the zoo to meet our spectacled bear friends.
If you visit us on Saturday 14th May, you will even be lucky enough to enjoy a one-off special bear talk, held at 12.45, in celebration of these splendid animals.
Don’t forget, if you book your tickets online in advance, you save 5% on Ticket Office prices! What more excuse do you need?