Image March 2010 ©Rando, Bern Bear Park
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Bern Zoo’s first baby bears in nearly 20 years have been spotted outdoors in recent days.
The bears, Urs and Berna, are putting on 70 gr a day, reports the zoo, while the world speculates on whether they are male or female.
The zoo’s webcams normally allow a relatively good view of the bears’ activities, but mother Bjoerk’s den has a dirty window, making the images unclear
The zoo says it isn’t yet possible to go in and clean the window. Webcam viewers will have to be patient. Meanwhile the video on Berner Zeitung’s site, showing mother bear trying to line up her cubs to face the photographers, is a good substitute.
Image March 2010 ©Rando, Bern Bear Park
Image March 2010 ©Rando, Bern Bear Park
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Bern tourism office, Bear Park
Video, 7 min: Berner Zeitung newspaper, with mother Bjoerk and cubs by Christian Lierchti.
Click on images to view larger
Bjoerk the bear and her two cubs, 18 February (photo: Bern Bear Park)
Update 26 February, link added Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Lausanne newspaper 24 Heures called it one of Switzerland’s best-guarded secrets, proving that it isn’t only bank accounts the Swiss are quiet about: Finn, one of Bern’s two much-loved zoo bears who was shot by a policeman in November when he attacked an intruder, became a father in December. The news came out only this week. Bjoerk, the mother, surprised everyone by not just hibernating but giving birth to two cubs at the Bern Bear Park, which is one of Switzerland’s most popular tourist attractions.
Finn, the father will remain alone in his part of the park, say zoo authorities. “Male bears have no fatherly feelings – he would just kill the cubs.”
The cubs have been named Urs and Berna.
Early January evening snowfall at Bern's Aare River and Bear Park
Bern's new Bear Park offers a lovely riverside walk, information on the animals
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Winter may not appear to be the ideal time to visit bears at parks, given their reputation for hibernating, but this is not stopping tourists from streaming to see the new bear park in Bern, which opened in late October 2009. Finn, a young male bear recovering after he was shot when an intruder went into the animal’s den, is particularly sought out.
“He’s in a kind of micro-hibernation,” says bear park spokesperson Marc Rosset, who says you have to have luck on your side to see Finn during these wintry days.
Finn, swimming again in December 2009
“He came to us from the Helsinki zoo, where he did hibernate during his first two years.” But in the slightly warmer climate of Bern, he occasionally goes outside. “He gets hungry, so he goes looking for food,” says Rosset.
Finn’s fourth birthday is 15 January.
New bear park in Bern, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A 25-year-old man who was injured when he climbed the wall of the new bear park in Bern, then slipped, is in stable condition after he was attacked by one of the bears. Finn, the nearly 4-year-old male who injured him, was wounded by gunfire from a policeman who was trying to save the young man, and the bear is in serious condition, according to Bernd Schildger, the head of Dählhölzli, the animal park of which the bear pit is a part. If Finn survives, which is not yet clear, he will not be put down, says Schildger.
Police have not been able to determine why the man, who is mentally handicapped, decided to climb the wall, where he crouched for a moment before falling four metres into the bears’ den.
