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We set up The BEARS Project and this website to help fill a gap in good quality information in Slovakia, where very little scientific research has been done on bears. Because of the lack of resources in Slovakia, the following links are to sites in other countries and so are mostly in English (some also have German or other language versions).

General information about bears

All eight bear species of the world are described in the website of the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA), whose members include many of the world’s leading professional experts on bears.
The different species of bears are also described by the Bear Planet and at Bears.org.

Preventive measures

Some of the best available advice on how to minimise the risk of being injured by a bear is given by the Safety in Bear Country Society in a series of videos. A transcript of the film "Staying Safe in Bear Country" is also available. An official Slovak version of this film has already been prepared by SWS – Slovak Wildlife Society.
The best book on this subject, "Bear attacks: their causes and avoidance" by Prof. Stephen Herrero, can be ordered from Amazon.
Excellent advice and tips on how to minimise conflicts with bears is given by the Get Bear Smart Society, by the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game and by Living with Wildlife.

Several sites in North America offer bear-proof containers, including the following:
Bear Proof Containers
Bear Proof Inc.
UnBearAble Bins Inc.
Bear Saver
Tahoe Council for Wild Bears
Haul All

A traditional and one of the best methods of protecting livestock is the use of livestock guarding dogs.
A more modern method to prevent bears reaching livestock as well as beehives, refuse containers, orchards, etc. is electric fencing. Cattle breeders in Venezuela have made interesting use of solar-powered electric fencing.
Information on other techniques to help prevent or reduce conflicts with bears is available in the newsletter Carnivore Damage Prevention News, which can be downloaded from the Swiss large carnivore project website.

Research, conservation and management

The Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE) is a network of organisations and experts from 25 countries working to secure viable populations of large carnivores in coexistence with people. Its members prepared the Action Plan for Conservation of the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) in Europe. This action plan has been endorsed by the Council of Europe and published as an official document within the framework of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (the Bern Convention), to which the Slovak Republic is a signatory. It can be downloaded from the LCIE website. You can find a lot more information on carnivores at Carnivore Conservation.

There are currently several other projects and organisations working on bears in Europe, including:-
Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project
Carpathian Brown Bear Project, Poland
Medvedi.si, Slovenia
Kuterevo bear sanctuary, Croatia
Medo Brundo, Croatia
Arcturos bear sanctuary, Greece
Brown Bear Foundation, Spain
Carpathian Large Carnivore Project, Romania (1993-2003)