Beary Interesting Websites
Other Bear Smart/Wise/Aware programs
BC Ministry of Environment - Get Bear Aware; Bear Smart Community Program
A great government resource about the problem, prevention, the role of the Conservation Officer Service and BC Bear Tolerant Communities. Link here. For information on BC's Bear Smart Community Program, link.
Ontario Bear Wise Program
The Ontario Ministry of Environment's excellent site filled with information on preventing conflict. The site has information for kids, parents, teachers, residents, campers, cottagers, communities, food businesses, farmers, and beekeepers. View articles, video, technical notes and download factsheets. Link here. Also check out their e-book: Are you Bear Wise?
Other educational sites
Animal Mosaic
Animal Mosaic is a website that provides information, resources and forums to enable people from diverse backgrounds to learn, interact and even work together towards a better future for both humans and animals.
Visit and register for the Community today! http://www.animalmosaic.org/
BEARS: Bear Education, Awareness and Research in Slovakia
This site is dedicated to research, education and co-existence with bears in Slovakia. Link here.
Charlie Russell's Cloudline
A wonderful site about Canadian Charlie Russell and his partner and artist Maureen Enns' work to rehabilitate wild grizzly bear cubs in Russia complete with daily diary entries. Link here.
Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGC)
A comprehensive site containing information on bear biology (general characteristics, food habits, hibernation, reproduction); and bear safety information (including a good deal of information on bear pepper spray) for backcountry hikers, campers, hunters and photographers. Grizzly Tracks features the February 2000 Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee Report. Link here.
MotherNature.com
MotherNature.com was designed to be an online guide to the plants, animals, birds and landforms of the Rocky Mountains. The site offers the following features: Online guide to more than 600 plants, animals, birds and landforms of the Canadian Rockies; Sightings database and search tool; Web Television Network with interactive slide shows detailing the Natural and Human history of the Rockies; Interactive tests; An extensive section on bear and cougar safety; A story database; and Discussion Forums. Link here.
North American Bear Center
This highly recommended site is dedicated to revealing the true nature of black bears. Their goal is to provide accurate information that will facilitate positive encounters and accurate impressions of these magnificent wild animals. Link here.
Wildlife Research Institute
Follow the antics of radio-collared bears at the Northwood's Research Centre. The site includes science based on 34 years of research by Dr. Lynn Rogers , the world's foremost expert on black bear behaviour. WRI's research focuses on coexisting with bears. Link here.
Groups that protect bears and preserve habitat
The Vital Ground Foundation
With the grizzly bear as its compass, Vital Ground works to reconnect fragmented landscapes in the U.S. and Canada critical to wildlife movement and biodiversity. Because the a single grizzly's range can cover several hundred square miles - from alpine meadows to valley bottoms - protecting and expanding habitat and migration corridors important to the Great Bear benefits entire animal and plant communities in the wildest, yet most imperiled places left on the continent. Since its founding in 1990, Vital Ground has helped to protect and enhance more than 604,000 acres of wildlife habitat in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, and British Columbia. Link here.
Valhalla Wilderness Society (VWS)
World Society of the Protection of Animals (WSPA)
Canada is part of an international organization promoting animal welfare and conservation globally. WSPA has been on the front lines of animal protection for more than 20 years. Through practical field projects, rescue and disaster relief operations, undercover investigations, legislative action, education and awareness programs, WSPA has been progressively improving conditions for animals around the world. Representing more than 400 member societies in over 90 countries, WSPA is the world's largest network of animal protection specialists. Link here.
Click her to view WSPA's Bear Safe Information
Great Bear Foundation (GBF)
GBF creates a proactive movement of conservation for all eight bear species and their habitats world-wide and is made up of people just like you - people who believe that bears throughout the world deserve enough wild and open spaces to survive. GBF is involved in a number of programs and projects including hands-on scientific research, biological consulting, school programs, and field courses. The trips (led by Dr. Charles Jonkel )to see Spirit Bears and Polar Bears are well worth checking out. Link here.
Managing Bears, Courses and Training
Bear Scare
BEAR sCARE is an Alberta based company that specializes in the training of non-lethal methods to prevent human/bear conflicts. Training courses vary from "non-lethal bear management training" for law enforcement and wildlife managers to safety orientated training for working or recreating in bear country. Link here.
Carey Hunt's Wind River Bear Institute - Karelian Bear Dogs
The Wind River Bear Institute's (WRBI's) "Partners in Life" program is founded and led by veteran bear biologist Carrie Hunt. This Program teaches bears and people to coexist by using highly trained and carefully selected Karelian Bear Dogs and a teaching method Hunt calls "Bear Shepherding". The website is part of an ongoing effort to provide information to the public and as a resource to related agencies with effective long-term solutions to human-bear conflicts. Link here.
Rehabilitation Centres
Northern Lights Rehabilitation Centre
Northern Lights Wildlife Society (NLWS) provides a second chance for orphaned wildlife in British Columbia. With 20 years of successful rehabilitation, NLWS has become a haven for bears, moose, deer and other orphaned wildlife. Link here.
Bear With Us
Bear With Us was conceived in 1992. Educating people about bears and their behavior, promoting co-existence between people and bears reduces conflicts. Mike McIntosh offers slide presentations and lectures to interest groups such as nature clubs, schools, scouts, guides etc. Bear With Us offers a problem (nuisance) bear relocation service, provides rehabilitation for orphan cubs and injured bears, and offers permanent sanctuary for some non-releasable adults. Link here.
Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation Centre
IBBR accepts orphaned cubs from Idaho and the surrounding Western states. As a wildlife rehabilitator since 1978, founder Sally Maughan started The Idaho Black Bear Rehab program in 1989 with the arrival of the first orphaned black bear cub. The IBBR vision for the future is to help state agencies make bear rehab a viable option for orphaned bear cubs. Orphaned cubs need a place to go and a second chance. Part of IBBR's responsibility as caretakers of our wildlife is learning to live with bears, to safeguard their habitat, and to share their world without our habits creating nuisance bears. The site includes information on bears, a journal about bears currently under IBBR care, and a special section for professional rehabbers. Link here.
Other Rescue Centres
Looking for organizations that rescue wild and domestic animals. Download our list.
Bear Viewing
Bear Viewing Association
The Bear Viewing Association is an organization dedicated to promoting bear viewing opportunities and the welfare of viewable bears, minimizing risk and disturbance. Several books and videos are available on the website. Link here.
The American Bear Association (Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary)
The Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary near Orr, Minnesota, is a place of wonder where people can learn about black bears by observing them in their natural habitat from an elevated viewing platform. A must stop on any vacation through the area. The site includes information about bears for adults and kids; and a section for TEACHERS that provides a Bear Unit incorporating many disciplines - Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies and Science. Link here.
Live Bear Cams
Watch bears catching salmon live in McNeil River Sanctuary, Alaska or polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba. Link here.
Good organziations to belong to.......
The International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA)
The International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) is a non-profit tax-exempt (US Tax ID# 94-3102570) volunteer organization open to professional biologists, wildlife managers and others dedicated to the conservation of all species of bears. The organization consists of several hundred members from over 20 countries. It supports the scientific management of bears through research and distribution of information.
The IBA sponsors international conferences on all aspects of bear biology, ecology, and management approximately 2 out of every 3 years. These conferences alternate between venues in the Americas and in Eurasia. Papers accepted for presentation at each conference are considered for publication as peer-reviewed scientific papers in Ursus. This annual journal is also open to non-conference submissions of high scientific merit. The IBA also publishes a quarterly newsletter "International Bear News".
