Zoo La Boissière du Doré News from La Boissiere

Another birth announced today on fb : a baby two-toed sloth !

Also, deaths of Rai (female clouded leopard, 13 years old) and Simba (male red ruffed-lemur, 28 years old) :(
 
2 brown bear cubs were born :) Parents are Arkan, the young male arrived in 2022, and Frisquette, the oldest adult female (21 years old). That's a surprise as the zoo expected cubs from Frisquette's older daughter Meya, 7 years old, who gets along very well with Arkan.
 
2 brown bear cubs were born :) Parents are Arkan, the young male arrived in 2022, and Frisquette, the oldest adult female (21 years old). That's a surprise as the zoo expected cubs from Frisquette's older daughter Meya, 7 years old, who gets along very well with Arkan.

Congratulations to the zoo for the breeding of this specie that suffers from lack of space and which compete with endangered species for new exhibits!
 
I thought that due to stable numbers of the LC specie they don't breed brown bears... ?
Of course Brown Bears are LC globally due to large, stable populations in Russia, Canada and other Northern countries, but it isn't the case in most of Europe.
In France they remain CR with a very small (while increasing) population.
It's unlikely that the zoo-born Brown Bears would be reintroduced in the wild, but they remain important as a reminder of conservation priorities in Europe and especially France (and given that this elusive species is nearly impossible to spot in the wild).
Of course we don't need hundreds of Bear cubs every year but the maintaining of stable captive Bear populations remain pertinent.
 
Of course we don't need hundreds of Bear cubs every year but the maintaining of stable captive Bear populations remain pertinent.

Bears in Carpathians, Balkan, Baltics have stable or growing populations. There are increasing conflicts with local people and "problem" animals are culled. Just two days ago, a bear followed a pair of Belarussian tourists in Slovak mountains, the woman got scared, fell off a cliff and died. Authorities decided the bear will be shot in next days. If any European zoo wants brown bears for exhibit purposes - just contact Slovak or Romanian or Estonian authorities etc and you can swim in "problem animals" and abandoned cubs that would otherwise be killed.

Any zoo breeding of brown bears is stupid decision.
 
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Bears in Carpathians, Balkan, Baltics have stable or growing populations. There are increasing conflicts with local people and "problem" animals are culled. Just two days ago, a bear followed a pair of Belarussian tourists in Slovak mountains, the woman got scared, fell off a cliff and died. Authorities decided the bear will be shot in next days. If any European zoo wants brown bears for exhibit purposes - just contact Slovak or Romanian or Estonian authorities etc and you can swim in "problem animals" and abandoned cubs that would otherwise be killed.

Any zoo breeding of brown bears is stupid decision.
Are them fit for captive life ?
I'm a bit doubtful, but there may be actual examples of these "problematic" bears removed from the wild within our zoos.
There's another way to get bears one may mention : the rescuing of captive bears maintained under awful conditions in the private menageries, circuses and even places like hotels and restaurants, mainly in the East (but I know recent examples from France).
 
Of course Brown Bears are LC globally due to large, stable populations in Russia, Canada and other Northern countries, but it isn't the case in most of Europe.
In France they remain CR with a very small (while increasing) population.
It's unlikely that the zoo-born Brown Bears would be reintroduced in the wild, but they remain important as a reminder of conservation priorities in Europe and especially France (and given that this elusive species is nearly impossible to spot in the wild).
Of course we don't need hundreds of Bear cubs every year but the maintaining of stable captive Bear populations remain pertinent.
Indeed, it remains pertinent for education value. As it remains pertinent for many european species : not globally endangered, but they are locally, and people who meet the species and are educated about it are more prone to accept living with it, and to know how to do it right.
And, we can't say la Boissière du Doré breed bears excessively, as it's only the 3rd litter since they exhibit brown bears ! 1 cub in 2003 (still here), 1 in 2017 (still here and not planned, they thought the male was sterile as he never sired any cub before and was 32 years old) and now 2.
 
Some pictures of the new exhibits. Amur léopard exhibit should be done soon, new wolves exhibit is for 2025.
 

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