Woodland Park Zoo Press Release

What:
What happens when you don’t store food properly while camping in bear country? Find out just how disastrous it can be as the zoo’s grizzly bears forage through a “non-safe” campsite set up in their exhibit: camping equipment provided by REI, pots and pans, hammock, cooler, bear bag (food storage container) and scattered food items.
The campsite scenario is among the demonstrations and activities offered at this weekend’s Bear Affair to teach visitors about bears in the wild and how to help keep these animals safe.

Grizzly Bear with Tent
Photo: Ric Brewer

When:
Non-safe campsite demonstration: Saturday, September 23, 11:00-11:30 a.m.
Bear Affair: Saturday-Sunday, September 23-24, 9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Web users can view the non-safe campsite demonstration on the zoo’s improved Bear Cam. The Bear Cam is sponsored by the Brown Bear Car Wash, and Internet streaming is provided by RealNetworks, maker of RealPlayer.

Where:
The campsite demo is at the grizzly bear exhibit at the zoo’s Northern Trail. Enter through the NORTH ENTRANCE off N. 59th St. & Phinney Ave N. and proceed to the Northern Trail.

Who:
Conservationist Chris Morgan will provide insight into the hazards of unsafe bear campsites and food conditioned bears in the backcountry, or around your home. Morgan coordinates the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project (GBOP), an independent project promoting an accurate understanding of grizzly bears and their recovery in the North Cascades Ecosystem through community education and involvement. The GBOP is one of 37 field conservation projects that Woodland Park Zoo partners with in more than 25 countries around the world.

The zoo’s grizzlies are 12-year-old brothers, Keema and Denali. The 850-pound bears arrived at the zoo in 1994 from Washington State University, which maintains a small collection to conduct a long-term study on bear nutrition.

Info:
Bear Affair is Saturday-Sunday, September 23-24, 9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Free with zoo admission or zoo membership
Bear Affair celebrates our bear friends with a variety of opportunities to learn more about them – from grizzly bears to Malayan sun bears and sloth bears. Visitors will enjoy keeper talks, enrichment activities for the bears, mini-presentations by the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project on grizzly bear conservation, booths represented by wildlife and conservation organizations concerned with bears and bear habitat, bear discovery boxes and more.

Fewer than 20 grizzly bears and more than 6,000 black bears live in the North Cascades. They are smart, agile animals that quickly learn about food sources. Tip: Never let bears access your food in the backcountry, or around your home! Food conditioned bears usually end up being killed.

A full schedule is available on the Bear Affair page on the zoo's Web site, or call 206.684.4800. For more information about the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project, visit www.bearinfo.org.

Accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, award-winning Woodland Park Zoo is famed for pioneering naturalistic exhibits and setting a standard for zoos all over the world. With conservation, education and excellent animal care at the core of the zoo’s mission, the zoo is helping to save endangered species in Washington state and around the world including tree kangaroos, snow leopards, red-crowned cranes, African wild dogs, western pond turtles and Oregon silverspot butterflies. By inspiring visitors and others to care and act, Woodland Park Zoo is making a difference in our planet’s future.