title: The Welfare of Bears in Zoos: A Case Study of Poland.
abstract: The welfare of captive bears became a big issue of concern in Poland when a case of a bear being ill-treated became a high-profile case in the media. This case created a challenge to verify, study, and understand the main problems associated with bear keeping so that zoos could significantly improve the conditions in which they keep bears or ensure they keep bears at the minimum required standards. The results presented here are from 1 of the few countrywide studies of captive bear conditions conducted in all the captive institutions in Poland that keep bears. Thirteen institutions kept bears at the time of the study (2007-2009), including 54 individuals of 5 species. Major welfare problems were identified, and the results have been used to challenge zoos to address the changes required and focus the government's attention on areas that require legislative improvement.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of Vertebrates , Institute of Environmental Biology, University of Wroclaw , Wroclaw , Poland.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maślak
authors.affiliation: b Department of Wildlife Conservation , Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences , Krakow , Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sergiel
authors.affiliation: c Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals , Horsham , United Kingdom.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bowles
authors.affiliation: a Department of Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of Vertebrates , Institute of Environmental Biology, University of Wroclaw , Wroclaw , Poland.
authors.forename: Łukasz
authors.initials: Ł
authors.lastname: Paśko
mesh_terms: D000827:Animal Welfare / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland; D001503:Ursidae
keywords: Captive bears; keeping standards; stereotypic behavior; welfare assessment