Creating a better world for bears

The challenge that lies ahead for all animal welfare groups is not small: human populations are growing, as is the global demand for food and energy, while the frequency and severity of disasters increases with every passing season.

As we all have seen time and time again on the news, all these issues have devastating consequences for animals. It is our role as an organization, and your role united by the same passion, to create a better world for animals.

Get Bear Smart, along with other global forces like the World Animal Protection (WAP) have set an ambitious vision: a world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty is ended.

To help us achieve this, we have had to make some changes to the way we work.

1. We are strengthening our campaigns

The goal is to embed animal welfare into the principles of society, but to do so we need to change the minds of millions of people around the world by reconnecting them to the Earth and awakening their passion for animals. We can do our part by using bears as a portal within our own circle of influence.

We will continue to choose programs based on their contribution to minimizing bear mortality and our ability to bring about change.

2. We are putting a greater emphasis on cross-sector collaboration

Our campaigns will open new doors to a wider range of partners working to embed the basic principles of animal welfare into the way they do business.We can apply more pressure by widening our sphere of influence outside of the animal welfare sector. We will demonstrate to other stakeholders just how important bear smart practices are to their work.

We will also join WAP’s new Animal Mosaic providing us with global connections and resources and allowing us a forum to contribute and disseminate our information as well.

We’re very excited about the future.

“The whole idea is not to figure out what you should do that will matter, but to make each thing you do refelct the values you want. Becasue you don’t know what’s going to matter. The things that change your life are really very small. Everything you do is important.” ~ Gloria Steinem

It is my personal goal to do for animals what the Women’s Liberation movement did for women and what Black Power did for blacks. A movement can be started by one small action, like that of Rosa Parks, when she refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white person… or when Gloria Steinem published an article in 1969, “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation” awakening society to the need for equality between women and men. With many civil rights now in place for women, African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities, as well as gay rights, it’s time to start a movement giving animals some basic rights and the respect they deserve as sentient beings on our planet Earth.

What small action can you take today that will inspire a movement to make animals matter?