Australasian Bear Population

I too would definitely be In favor of Andean bears in addition to being slightly more common they are surely the more appealing and not to mention would diversify our regions South American collection. It would also be a good trade to have Asian big cats (Sumatran tigers, Snow leopards, Sri Lankan Leopards and Clouded leopards.) Whilst housing a bear species from the America's and the only south American bear species at that.
@Patrick Keegan @Trua @Zoofan15 100% agree about Andean bears, very much in favor of too.
They would be the key species most of our zoos would be interested in to be the face of their South American precincts! Being the only bear species (besides the pandas and polar bears), a precinct themed around them would be amazing and completely unique on a regional level.

I agree.

Though Spectacled bear is omnivorous (some sources even argue herbivorous), they’re still a bear and like many carnivores, highly enabling.

Australasia has already lost Ocelot and Jaguar. Spectacled bear would be a huge draw card, eclipsing even Maned wolf.
 
I'm probably being unrealistic but I love imagining that in the future that more Australian zoos will hold bears. Especially if there are bears that aren't currently held in the region. It would be amazing if zooz such as MZ ended up holding bears again
 
I'm probably being unrealistic but I love imagining that in the future that more Australian zoos will hold bears. Especially if there are bears that aren't currently held in the region. It would be amazing if zooz such as MZ ended up holding bears again

It’s certainly a possibility (not necessarily for Melbourne Zoo, but regionally) that a switch to another bear species would occur. Sloth and Spectacled bears would be the most likely in my opinion due to support in Europe and North America.

Malayan sun bears haven’t bred in sustainable numbers and there’s currently no viable options for sourcing more.
 
It’s certainly a possibility (not necessarily for Melbourne Zoo, but regionally) that a switch to another bear species would occur. Sloth and Spectacled bears would be the most likely in my opinion due to support in Europe and North America.

Malayan sun bears haven’t bred in sustainable numbers and there’s currently no viable options for sourcing more.

Id love it either of them ended up in Australian zoos. Would there be any chance of Brown or Black bears coming to Australia?
 
I'm probably being unrealistic but I love imagining that in the future that more Australian zoos will hold bears. Especially if there are bears that aren't currently held in the region. It would be amazing if zooz such as MZ ended up holding bears again
I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see the region pick a direction with bears. At the moment, a handful of facilities still hold an ageing population of Sun Bears. A large import of stock would be required to rejuvenate that breeding program, and at the moment there aren't many avenues for that.

Pivoting to another bear species is also a possibility - Sloth Bears and Andean Bears being obvious candidates.

Andean Bears would be great for any South American themed precinct here - and they're bred in decent numbers in the USA and Europe, potentially enough for two zoos initially to acquire two unrelated breeding pairs with the program then flowing on from there.

However the American population in particular is facing the issue of genetic diversity. They've highlighted the difficulty of importing Andean bears due to export bans in most home range countries and long delays with import paperwork from Europe. Europe has a sizeable population but it's not thriving by any means.

Sloth Bears on the other hand, are breeding well on the North American side of things, with a rather youthful population. But there are very few facilities (on both the North American and European sides) that are holding successful purebred Indian Sloth Bear pairings.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see the region pick a direction with bears. At the moment, a handful of facilities still hold an ageing population of Sun Bears. A large import of stock would be required to rejuvenate that breeding program, and at the moment there aren't many avenues for that.

Pivoting to another bear species is also a possibility - Sloth Bears and Andean Bears being obvious candidates.

Andean Bears would be great for any South American themed precinct here - and they're bred in decent numbers in the USA and Europe, potentially enough for two zoos initially to acquire two unrelated breeding pairs with the program then flowing on from there.

However the American population in particular is facing the issue of genetic diversity. They've highlighted the difficulty of importing Andean bears due to export bans in most home range countries and long delays with import paperwork from Europe. Europe has a sizeable population but it's not thriving by any means.

Sloth Bears on the other hand, are breeding well on the North American side of things, with a rather youthful population. But there are very few facilities (on both the North American and European sides) that are holding successful purebred Indian Sloth Bear pairings.
Sloth Bears were my favourite bear as a kid, it would be incredible to see them in the flesh one day
 
No, I can’t see brown or black bears coming to Australia. American black bears are taken in as rescues by North American facilities, but there aren’t active breeding programmes for this species.

That makes sense. I know Australia used to hold different types of Brown Bears so that's why I was wondering if they could possibly return in the future
 
That makes sense. I know Australia used to hold different types of Brown Bears so that's why I was wondering if they could possibly return in the future

Australian zoos used to hold Syrian brown bears. The last one in the region died in 2016, but the species hadn’t been bred in Australian since 1993 (an accidental
breeding) and regional support had dwindled due to the Malayan sun bear becoming the regional focus species.

In Europe, holders of Syrian brown bears have declined, so I don’t see them being a viable option for Australia.
 
That makes sense. I know Australia used to hold different types of Brown Bears so that's why I was wondering if they could possibly return in the future
Yeah we've had three species of Brown Bear.

Three Eurasian Brown Bears were recently kept at the National Zoo since 2000. Those individuals were ex circus animals, and the last female passed in 2018. Officially the last Brown Bear in the country.

Syrian Brown Bears were most recently kept at Melbourne, with their last female (Honey) passing in 2016. They were previously kept at Perth, Adelaide (former breeding facility), and Mogo and Cairns (which housed the offspring of Honey).

Kodiak Bears were also recently held regionally. Three siblings were imported by Adelaide from the USA in 1978, and all three later ended up at Taronga. The last female (Bethyl) passing away in 2012.
 
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