black bears fishing in zoos and mix with coyotes

Z

zorg

Member
Planning to have black bears i would like to know if they are used as brown ones to catch living fishes in ponds ;


do somebody know some black bears /coyotes mixed exhibits ?
 
If you are talking about American black bears I do not think they would fish, I've seen them kept with wolves.

Feeding live food to vertebrates is illegal in a lot of European countries.
 
There are at least a few zoos in the U.S. that have displayed black bears and grey foxes together. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka, California used to. I have never heard of a black bear - coyote exhibit, but possibly someone has done it.
 
nobody in north america could tell me if american black bear could fish living fish in ponds ,streams in the wild or in captivity ?
 
zorg said:
nobody in north america could tell me if american black bear could fish living fish in ponds ,streams in the wild or in captivity ?
Click to expand...

I'm sure that they will eat fish if given the chance but they do not have the same fishing behavior that grizzly bears do along salmon runs to my knowledge. Black bears eat small mammals and berries mostly.

There is likely an AZA specialist group list-serve or other forum for bear keepers that could answer your question specifically.
 
Last edited:
yes they would fish not so bad if I believe this video


problem for us with AZA is the access to the info ,we are EAZA members and even guidelines from north america (ex pronghorns ) are not available for us .
 
Last edited by a moderator:
A common adage that I've heard when it comes to mixed species is: It works until it doesn't. In other words there are so many factors that come into play, especially with large carnivores. You may get a pair that live great together for years... until the day you find coyote bits scattered all over the yard. I've seen octopus that live just fine there whole life with rock cod... and then the next octopus promptly eats the cod.
Of course there is the old "raise them as pups together" trick...
As for fish in the bear stream, I wouldn't think it would hurt and probably provide an element of enrichment for the bears. That said I do remember the San Diego Zoo put live salmon in their polar bear exhibit and one of their bears got sick and died from eating the salmon (correct me if i'm wrong on that).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top