Being able to make a difference, whether big or small, is what it is all about. As a director, Ingrid Vermeulen thrives on the knowledge that she is creating better conditions and better welfare for bears in general. It is of great importance to her to raise more awareness of the situation of bears when she talks with other people.
Koen Cuyten, Project Manager at the organization, gets his energy from working with conservationists worldwide. Though the situations are often very controversial, it is great to be able to make a difference. Leaving a better place behind for his daughters is his ultimate wish.
Both of them work at Bears In Mind, an international organization based in the Netherlands. Their general goal is to use their knowledge, expertise, and financial abilities to protect bears in the wild and improve the welfare of bears in captivity. They achieve these goals through various projects that focus on conservation, welfare, and education. It’s a diverse organization, to say the least.
The start of Bears In Mind
The inception of Bears In Mind goes back almost 30 years. In 1993, Greece and Turkey banned the use of bears for street dancing. Dozens of bears were saved, but they needed a place to go. Though Greece and Turkey established sanctuaries for displaced dancing bears, many bears still needed a new home. A collaboration between the European Union (EU) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) sought to locate the best country or zoo that had the capacity to accommodate these rescued bears.
Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands ultimately was the answer. They created the Bear Forest and additionally the International Bear Foundation was founded to manage this special project. In the many years since then, the foundation has had multiple names, but ever since 2016 they have been operating under the name Bears in Mind.
The Bear Forest
The Bear Forest still exists today, mainly as a hands-off project where the bears are free to live how they want. Physiologically, they don’t need much adaptation, but mentally it can be difficult. Due to how they were treated growing up, each bear suffers from trauma. Some bears are unfamiliar with the new environment of a forest. With the new sensations of grass under their paws and a wide expanse in which they are now free to roam, many bears are apprehensive to rehabilitate and explore the wild for the first time in their lives.
Bear Forest is also home to a pack of wolves as a way of simulating bears’ natural environment. The relationship between the two animal groups is beneficial and allows the bears to experience a natural interaction with another predator. Due to their different diets, they rarely cause serious harm to each other. Wolves consume meat, while bears prefer to consume a seasonal diet of alternative foods that they find in the wild. All is well in The Bear Forest.
Looking at The Bear Forest, it is clear that there are many people interested in these animals. Approximately one million visitors come to The Bear Forest every year to learn more about Bears in Mind. They learned that only European Brown Bears live there, as different bear species cannot be kept in the same enclosure. This species is most suited to the environment in the Netherlands, which is vital for their well-being in the sanctuary.
Bears in captivity
Today, using bears in circuses or for dancing purposes has been banned in many countries. Nevertheless, there are still many cases in which bears are kept in captivity. Due to bears’ natural charisma, they are often captured as household pets. Some countries even elevate bears to a status symbol, which only increases their likelihood of being captured and placed in miserable conditions next to hotels, gas stations, and in small confinements. Captive adult bears can be found, for instance, under miserable conditions next to a hotel or a gas station in very small, unsuitable enclosures.
Bear cubs, however, come from various places. Most are orphaned and found in the forest after their mother is killed or abandoned the den due to disturbance by human activity such as logging. Some are orphaned as a result of the mothers being poached for their body parts, mainly bile, used in traditional (Chinese) medicine in Southeast Asia. The cubs are then sold off to circuses or zoos. The use of bear bile has existed for thousands of years already. Today, China still holds an excess of 10,000 bears in farms under horrible conditions where bile is drained daily from the live bears. Bear bile is an ingredient in traditional medicines to help dissolve gallstones and treat liver disease. Alongside that, it is marketed as a cure for cancer, colds, and hangovers and used in household products such as shampoo, and toothpaste or to help treat acne. This way, the use of bear bile expands beyond traditional medicine and appeals to a broader consumer market.
At Bears in Mind, they help confiscate and rehabilitate wild bear cubs whenever possible. Unfortunately, there are also situations where cubs end up in captivity for the rest of their lives, in a sanctuary or zoo. That’s because some of them can’t get used to living in the wilderness again. Most often, they associate people with food due to habituation. Rescuing bears from bad circumstances in captivity is therefore one way to help the individual bears out, but if nothing changes in the perceptions of the people keeping them as pets, buying them as a status symbol or promoting the use of bears for the bear bile industry, bears will always end up under miserable circumstances across the globe. Creating awareness and educating people is key!
Conservation of bears in the wild
Once those different human-wildlife conflicts became clear, the conservation of wild bears has become a top priority for Bears in Mind. Within the different focal areas, Bears in Mind covers an array of projects that all have a different form of human-wildlife coexistence or conflict-based motive. In areas where crop raiding and livestock killing by bears is happening on a daily basis, livelihoods and the lives of farmers are threatened and seriously affected. Killing a bear is therefore easier for farmers than risking their own lives.
In Pakistan, Nepal, and Laos, there are various human-wildlife confrontations and conflicts. To mitigate this problem, Bears in Mind has been working to develop education programs for local communities. As an example, in collaboration with local experts, several people from the community have been appointed to become bear guardians. These people are called when a conflict situation happens, after which they visit the location of the conflict and help receive compensation from the government. The bear guardians also help with the installation of preventive measures for bears, like electric fences and build elevated bee hives.
One of the projects that will speak to mind for everyone, is the direct result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since the war started at the end of February, a big rescue mission was initiated. Together with several international NGOs, Bears in Mind helped save at least 13 bears in total, together with many more captive animals like big cats, monkeys, wolves, and other species. In collaboration with various other sanctuaries across Europe, they have been able to house most rescued animals. As of September 2022, there are still animals like bears and big cats rescued from the East and brought to the West of Ukraine.
Looking at the future
In all cases, Bears in Mind joins forces with organizations and experts abroad. Besides advising these organizations on their methods and actions, Bears in Mind is also able to distribute funds to the project partners involved in bear conservation, education, and welfare projects. This happens twice a year.
Although small when looking at the size of the team, Bears in Mind has big plans. The Bear Forest in the Netherlands has a limited area, and therefore the maximum capacity of the number of bears is quickly reached. A new Bear Forest sanctuary, located more towards the hotspot of bears in captivity – in this case, Bosnia – is one of their top priority goals.
Besides this big future plan, there are several topics and subjects that should not be forgotten. Bears in Mind mainly focuses on bears, but it is equally important to focus on people that live in or near the habitats of wild bears. Nature and species conservation is all about people. If you don’t focus on people, you will never get as much done in conservation. So, Bears in Mind aims towards sustainable collaborations with locals and more awareness of the possible coexistence with bears.
With a team of three and a global conservation issue, it is unbelievable what the people at Bears in Mind do. Not even a fraction of the projects have been covered in this feature. Would you like to know more about Bears in Mind and what you can do about bear conservation? Check out their website or follow their journey online:
Website: https://www.bearsinmind.org/
Instagram: @Bearsinmind
Facebook: https://facebook.com/berenbos1993/
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