The Plight of Polar Bears - Life in the Artificial Grounds

	Life In The Artificial Lands
`The Zookeepers Words` My name is Bill Winhall, 54, B.A in Mar. Biol (1980) and M.S. in Family Counseling (1993). Most learning is on the job from other professionals and experience volunteering at marine mammals recue centers. We have a special safety program and procedures we learn/follow to keep people/keepers safe. Practice safety stimulations where polar bears get out of their enclosure, people getting in the exhibit with polar bears and practice using/firing safety equipment. Enclosed describes our polar bear program of enrichment and training. First thing in the morning we feed, clean and enrich the polar bears. We observe them to make sure they are doing well. I've taken care of mostly dolphins, sea lions, whales and walruses, and taking care of polar bears was new and different- I enjoy the animals and the challenge of training and enriching the animals. Our bears are from Buffalo, Wuppertal and Hagenbeck zoos. we received them at 1 1/2 years of age, slowly introduced them to each other and now they get along like brother and sisters- unrelated polar bears don't always get along (can be very aggressive). No vaccinations and they haven't gotten sick yet (11 years), they are generally pretty hardy. Our job requires a lot of cleaning. We feed the bears 6 or 7 times a day rotating them on and off exhibit in different groups. Numbers of polar bears in the arctic are getting smaller, the condition of the bears (more thin and less cubs) is worsening. -by Bill Winhall (including picture below)	Life in Captivity In the early 20th century man became adventurous and then once again landed a problem on the animals. This time it was completely new; man was putting them up in the zoos. People had fun here threw stuff at ferocious beasts and had a gala time. But animals were tortured here; they soon became malnourished and unhappy. Several hundreds of animal cubs were taken away from their mothers. Polar bears were also brought from their lands and put into places with hardly any protection from the heat. Many of them died soon after being brought into the zoos. Soon laws were made to protect these animals. Afterwards the conditions improved and so did the life of the animals but even these conditions were nowhere near to those in nature. Today also zoos do the same thing but for a new aspect: saving the wildlife (and along with it even earning money). Nowadays zoos buy unique animals, especially polar bears, koalas and pandas, for thousands of dollars keep them in captivity and encourage them to breed. This is the only process by which we can prevent the extinction of slow breeders but it is basically saving their habitats, which can prevent the plight of the animals. Not only are the zoos benefiting with the increasing number of visitors to their zoo but also they get international coverage and donations. Polar bears also have been bread in captivity. It has been successful to a great extent. Polar bears are nowadays provided with a survivable climate and even cared brilliantly. Many zoos return the polar bears back into the wild after they have successfully bread them. Doing this is seldom good for the bears as they are unaware of the situations in the wild and end up dying due to the lack of food. At times they loose their skills of hunting in the zoos also. other zoo tales
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Life In The Artificial Lands

The Zookeepers Words

My name is Bill Winhall, 54, B.A in Mar. Biol (1980) and M.S. in Family Counseling (1993).

Most learning is on the job from other professionals and experience volunteering at marine mammals recue centers. We have a special safety program and procedures we learn/follow to keep people/keepers safe. Practice safety stimulations where polar bears get out of their enclosure, people getting in the exhibit with polar bears and practice using/firing safety equipment. Enclosed describes our polar bear program of enrichment and training. First thing in the morning we feed, clean and enrich the polar bears. We observe them to make sure they are doing well. I've taken care of mostly dolphins, sea lions, whales and walruses, and taking care of polar bears was new and different- I enjoy the animals and the challenge of training and enriching the animals.

Our bears are from Buffalo, Wuppertal and Hagenbeck zoos. we received them at 1 1/2 years of age, slowly introduced them to each other and now they get along like brother and sisters- unrelated polar bears don't always get along (can be very aggressive).

No vaccinations and they haven't gotten sick yet (11 years), they are generally pretty hardy. Our job requires a lot of cleaning. We feed the bears 6 or 7 times a day rotating them on and off exhibit in different groups.

Numbers of polar bears in the arctic are getting smaller, the condition of the bears (more thin and less cubs) is worsening.

-by Bill Winhall

(including picture below)

Polar Bears swimming in Sea World

Life in Captivity

In the early 20th century man became adventurous and then once again landed a problem on the animals. This time it was completely new; man was putting them up in the zoos. People had fun here threw stuff at ferocious beasts and had a gala time. But animals were tortured here; they soon became malnourished and unhappy.
Several hundreds of animal cubs were taken away from their mothers. Polar bears were also brought from their lands and put into places with hardly any protection from the heat. Many of them died soon after being brought into the zoos.
Soon laws were made to protect these animals. Afterwards the conditions improved and so did the life of the animals but even these conditions were nowhere near to those in nature.
Today also zoos do the same thing but for a new aspect: saving the wildlife (and along with it even earning money).
Nowadays zoos buy unique animals, especially polar bears, koalas and pandas, for thousands of dollars keep them in captivity and encourage them to breed. This is the only process by which we can prevent the extinction of slow breeders but it is basically saving their habitats, which can prevent the plight of the animals.
Not only are the zoos benefiting with the increasing number of visitors to their zoo but also they get international coverage and donations.
Polar bears also have been bread in captivity. It has been successful to a great extent. Polar bears are nowadays provided with a survivable climate and even cared brilliantly. Many zoos return the polar bears back into the wild after they have successfully bread them.
Doing this is seldom good for the bears as they are unaware of the situations in the wild and end up dying due to the lack of food. At times they loose their skills of hunting in the zoos also.

Polar Bears in the Sea World

other zoo tales

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an a. m. g production

The Plight of Polar Bears™