Goals and Tasks

Natural Habitat  

The size and structure of our bear protection centres offer the animals the ideal surroundings in which to live out their natural instincts and behaviour. They can roam through the area, withdraw from view when they feel like it, dig caves and hibernate. Bears love water, and they can use the pools for swimming and cleaning their fur. The bear keepers also promote natural bear behaviour by providing playthings to keep the bears occupied and maintain their natural curiosity.  

The bear can choose 

A fundamental rule of all FOUR PAWS bear projects is that the bears are not put on display against their will. Contact with humans is reduced to a minimum, so that the bear has the possibility to spend his day as he wishes. Visitors gain an impression of the daily life of a bear, but the bear decides if he is seen or not, and can withdraw at any time.  

Appropriate feeding  

As in nature, the bears in our parks spend a large portion of the day searching for food. The bear keepers hide the food throughout the enclosure and continuously develop new ways to occupy the bears. The intelligence and aptitude of the bears is encouraged by a variety of food games, such as providing a wagon wheel with a number of attached balls containing food.  

Professional care   

Experienced keepers and wild animal vets care for the animals individually, so they can recover from their physical suffering and stereotypical behaviour patterns. The behaviour of the bears is observed and documented. FOUR PAWS works closely with scientists and universities associated with our projects.    

Sustainability  

The previous owners of the bears commit themselves to no further bear ownership with the handover of the animals to FOUR PAWS.  

All of the male bears in the bear parks are castrated, to prevent reproduction of animals in captivity.   

Socialisation   

Although bears in the wild are solitary animals, they are "socialised" in our bear protection centres, where they live in small groups. This has a positive effect on the individual animals, as the social contact and the community living reduce behavioural problems at a faster rate.