Ostrava Zoo - June 2005

Syrian bear (U.arctos syriacus).

Is this enclosure still in use? I see that there are some woodchips, one log and two rocks, so the exhibit is not entirely cement.

The keepers are obviously doing allot more than some. There is actually allot of enrichment in this horrible small enclosure.

Syrian Brown bear....

i was shocked to see how common they are in Europe.....

According to ISIS this female should be still in Ostrava. And according to ISIS there should be total of 10.13 Syrian bears in European zoos + 1.4 in Ramat Gan.

wierd that our zoo is not inclouded we have 1.3
and Haifa zoo has 3-4
rishonl letzion has 2-3

and i've seen a few in europe
there are none in the US

Of course there are some zoos which regard ISIS useless and do not report to it - unfortunately the main example are both Berlin collections.

drzoomi said:

i was shocked to see how common they are in Europe.....

Click to expand...

The question is-for how long? Hardly any of the European institutions that keep this kind of bear try to breed it. Just as in Ostrava or Nuremberg, their husbandry is going to be phased out to make room for the updated husbandry of other, more popular ursidae species-especially polar bears...
Due to current systematic debates, it is even questioned whether they (and most other Brown bears, currently categorised in different European subspecies) are actually a valid subspecies.

The syrian brown bear is a quite different in siza and colour, i know that there are trends in zoo animals but i wish zoo will keep them.