Bear Facts About Bear Parks

Closed!

Bears, for those who don’t know are one of my favorite animals. I have already wrote a blog talking about a Fed Bear is a Dead Bear. So, when I heard that the Black Forest Bear Park in Helen, GA was closed down I will say that I was far from disappointed, I was thrilled. I usually don’t have a lot of good things about PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but when I heard about the condition that bears were kept in at the park I was pleased to hear, that they with the help of the Atlanta Humane Society and co-creator of the Simpsons, Sam Simon, had the park shutdown.

From things I had seen and from reports about the park showed the bears living in concrete enclosure, including the floors where the animals begged for food for customers, which sometime would land in the bears own feces. Besides the terrible conditions, pregnant female bears would have their cubs torn from them at birth, forcing handlers to restrain these bears. I don’t know why this bothered me so, but the park not only featured native black bears, but also grizzly bears, which never roamed any mountain near Helen or the Appalachian Mountains.

The good news was when the park was closed the 17 bears were moved to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keensburg, Colorado, where they can roam the 60-acre habit and be bears. Even better two of the female grizzly bears were pregnant and were able to have their cubs in their own dens. 

My problem with places like Black Forest Park goes way back. I think it started for me in seeing these poor black bears in concrete pits in Pigeon Forge. I just always found this to be so sad. I think my feeling about this issue coalesced on a visit to Santa Land Park in Cherokee, NC. I witnessed these pitiful looking bears in these fences and pits lying on hard concrete floors and it was on this day in 1986 that I decided that I didn’t want to see bears in conditions like that.

Bear a cage at Santa Land circa 1986.

Bear lays in a concrete pin in 1986.

Bears still live in conditions like this almost 30 years later.

Why they don’t house as many adult bears they still have an exhibit where one can feed bear cubs. These cubs mostly come from an equally abhorrent place called Cherokee Bear Zoo, where like at Black Forest Park the cubs are torn away from their mothers after birth. Before you say, hey Russ those little cubs are cute and it is fun to feed them. But remember at the end of every season, as these “cute” cubs approach adulthood a lot of these bears are shipped off and usually euthanized (killed).

There has been some good news another road side bear park in Cherokee, the Chief Saunookee Bear Park was closed down in 2012, for a lot of the same problems I talked about above. These bears were moved to the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary (IEAS) in Dallas. Bad news Santa Land and Cherokee Bear Zoo still exploit bears. However in December of 2013 a lawsuit was brought against Cherokee Bear Zoo by Cherokee tribal elders so there is some hope it might be closed, but we will see.

Don’t get me wrong I think that there is a place for zoos, but I think they should be public where they can be regulated better. Bears and any other animals should be kept in as close to natural conditions as possible. With some animals facing extinction zoos maybe the only refuge for these endangered species. However, having them in concrete pits with no grass and begging for food from customers is no way I want to see any animals live.

I have even changed my opinion on places like Sea World. Hey, I am not saying Sea World is all bad I have been to the park in Orlando a couple of times and petted dolphins and took in the killer whale show, but I now think these animals

Dolphins at Sea World in 1985.

should not be used for the entrainment of people for money, like it or not that is my opinion. I may never see eye to eye with PETA, but if this makes me an animal rights guy, so be it.

Anyway, when we drove through Helen last April it was the first time that I had heard about the Black Forest Bear Park. I was told by my friend Clint that it was a place where for a fee you could feed caged up bears. Because of my experiences from years ago I had no desire to see bears in
these conditions and neither did Deb. Again this past summer we were faced with a similar site this time again in Pigeon Forge. We were told about this place called the Three Bears Gift Shop. So, we decided to stop in and while touring the shop we once again came across another of these live bear displays. For a small fee one can feed them dog biscuits or fruit. This just brought back all of those bad memories of these type places I witnessed in my youth.

Bears at Three Bears (photo PETA)

Later, I looked this place up and the conditions that their bears live in I found out it is no better than the now closed Black Forest Park or any of these other places. The bears I saw online where at least native black bears, but that doesn’t make it any better. I found a report where PETA is pushing for U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate the condition of the animals at Three Bears and close down their display.

I know some people will disagree with me, but these days any bears I see I want to be on the trail in the wild. Oh, and if I want to see grizzly bears I will go out west to somewhere like Yellowstone National Park where these actually bears live! Oh, and if you want to know what you can do to help, don’t pay and go to one of these live bear exhibits and instead donate that money to someone like Appalachian Bear Rescue, who are trying to rehabilitate wild bear cubs, so they can return to where they belong…the wild. Here is hoping that one day bears at places like Three Bears Gift Shop find homes like the ones at Black Forest Bear Park. One final thought thank goodness this place in Helen was closed for good!

**Update 12-08-14**
In the orginial blog above I mentioned the Three Bears Gift Shop in Pigeon Forge, TN, well like I also said above I don't always agree with PETA, but once again I have to give them props. The organization help rescue two Himalayan black bears that were illegally imported into Tennessee by the owner of Three Bears. According to PETA, the organization "submitted a complaint to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency after learning that the bears were being confined to concrete and chain-link cages in a residential backyard. The agency investigated and charged the owner with illegally importing the bears into the state and struck a plea deal that secured the surrender of the two bears for retirement to a sanctuary and sought PETA's help re-homing the bears." Below is the video of the rescue.

Here are some resources:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
PETA
Coalition for Cherokee Bears
Stop Abusing Cherokee Bears Facebook Page 
Atlanta Humane Society
Appalachian Bear Rescue
Wild Animal Sanctuary
International Exotic Animal Sanctuary