THANK YOU ONE AND ALL

ADVANCING BEAR CARE ’09 WAS A HUGE SUCCESS

Advancing Bear Care ’09 sold out 4 weeks before the event. That was just the icing on the cake. Delegates arrived from as far away as Norway and Denmark, as exotic as China and Korea, and as local as San Francisco and Canada.  During the day we shared wild bear behaviour information to improve our captive bear husbandry in sanctuaries, rehabilitation facilities, and zoos. In the evenings we broke up into problem solving sessions lead by veterinary, cub rearing, human resources, and behaviour management experts. Some of the highlights included videos on wild bear research adventures, meeting old and new friends, and bringing home bear poo paper weights. Nope, not kidding! Go to Conference Updates to read the Advancing Bear Care ’09 Wrap Up and to view conference photos. 

ANNOUNCING THE BEARCARE YAHOO GROUP LISTSERV

To help everyone stay in touch with conference updates and to continue networking, the Bear Care Group has set up the BearCare Yahoo Group listserv. This group is for international bear caregivers and other bear professionals. Today, as never before, our greatest resource is professional communication. Any bear related subject in captive and wild bear welfare and conservation is open for discussion and information sharing. You can ask bear-related questions, discuss bear-related issues, share bear-related information, and you can post your photos, publications, organization’s newsletters & info, and your blogs. This is a moderated discussion forum based on professional courtesy. To join, just send an email to bearcare-subscribe@yahoogroups.ca

ANNOUNCING ADVANCING BEAR CARE 2011

Advancing Bear Care 2011 will be held in a fully serviced lodge or hotel in bear country. Bear biologists and naturalists will lead hikes into bear habitat and interpret for delegates how bears use the components of the ecosystem to express their daily and seasonal routines. We will bring this information back into workshops and apply this knowledge towards improving captive bear husbandry. Also, international bear biologists will assist us in interpreting Asian, European, and South American bear habitats. We are in the process of ferreting out an appropriate location. The conference location will be in North America and must have the following criteria; i/ be less than 1.5 hours drive from an international airport, ii/ be in both American black bear and grizzly bear habitat, iii/ allow hikes to begin right at the lodge without bussing delegates, and iv/ preferably be a globally known tourist location since our international delegates often travel overseas if they can attach a vacation onto their conference plans. If you know of a location that suits our needs please email Else Poulsen at embpoulsen@hotmail.com

The Bear Care Group is a non-profit group dedicated to the continued organization of international bear husbandry conferences, programs, publications and resources for bear caregivers at sanctuaries, rehabilitation facilities and zoos. This website provides the most recent information and easy access to all conference needs including; conference and hotel registration, transportation info and maps, a place to post for roommates, and more.

This site will be updated frequently when new information becomes available. Check it regularly!