Please help save brown bears

Please help save brown bears.

Being the largest of all the carnivores, along with the powerful polar bear, you might be forgiven for thinking that these glorious giants would be safe from the many dangers posed by humans.

But you would be mistaken.

Rapid human expansion into the bears’ natural homes is having truly devastating consequences. Logging, mining, and large-scale infrastructure development are leaving these brilliant behemoths – who are highly reliant on large natural habitats – facing utter annihilation.

Sadly, the body parts of these beautiful beasts commonly find their way in to the illegal wildlife trade. Their gall bladders have been known to fetch high prices in Asian markets, despite having no medicinal value whatsoever, and their paws are even considered a delicacy by some.

We must ensure these extraordinary animals do not fall off the radar.

We must act now.

The location of the Carpathian mountains, where FFI is working to conserve the Zarand landscape corridor.

In Romania, where almost half of Europe’s brown bears are hiding within the vast natural forests adorning much of the landscape, FFI have been working diligently to save these important apex predators.

With your donation, we could purchase and protect important pieces of land, build strategic fences to form a barrier between bears and local people – preventing numerous needless deaths – and work with local communities to ensure this area remains a safe haven for brown bears for years to come.

So please, donate now and help save brown bears.

FFI began working on the Zarand Initiative in 2011. This landscape-scale conservation and development programme aims to conserve the crucial Zarand landscape corridor in south-west Translyvania, linking bear populations in the Western Carpathians (Apuseni Mountains) to the Southern Carpathians.

The Zarand landscape corridor is absolutely essential to the conservation of the Apuseni bear population – a population considered endangered due to genetic isolation – and is also home to a number of other mammal and bird species of conservation concern, including wolves and the Eurasian lynx.

Brown bear skirting a Carpathian beech forest. Credit: Egyjanek/AdobeStock

FFI’s efforts to protect this threatened forest landscape includes the purchase of 415.5 hectares of beech and oak forest in the Western Carpathian Mountains of Romania, which should see this important area remain a secure sanctum for brown bears along with all the other elements of the forest ecosystem.

We have also been working with local communities in Romania. Traditional, low-impact practises employed by the inhabitants of these areas are crucial to retaining an element of wilderness – we have been encouraging sustainable forest and pasture management practises that aim to ensure these local landscapes continue to be capable of supporting the area’s rich and diverse fauna.