It’s ‘summer time and the livin’ is easy’ and imaginative keepers at Bedfordshire’ Woburn Safari Park are helping their cheeky North American black bears celebrate the long summer days with an extravagant feast.
Woburn is the only place in the UK where visitors can see North American black bears. The park is home to a 10-strong sleuth, including triplets Alabama, Kaska and Sekani.
Without goldilocks or a bowl of porridge in sight, the refreshing meal, designed to provide enrichment and a juicy treat in the summer heat, included watermelon, pineapple, oranges, melon, monkey nuts and seeds.
The keepers hid the treats inside giant honeypots and colourful piñatas to provide extra stimulation and installed a giant bear-sized hammock for the bears to play and sleep in, after filling their furry tummies.
Craig Lancaster, team leader of Carnivores at Woburn Safari Park said: “Wild bears eat a lot of plant-based foods and tend to live in forested areas, so we make sure that our bears get plenty of enrichment and time to explore their 13-acre wooded enclosure.
"The summer is a busy time for the park and the bears are really popular with their playful and curious natures.
"We wanted to spoil them with a special summer feast and they really loved it. It didn’t take them long to hunt down all the treats and stuff themselves silly.
"As inviting as it might sound on a hot sunny day, we do urge our visitors coming through the bear enclosure to keep their windows closed and keep their own lunches for the much safer picnic benches down by Swan Lake in the leisure Area!”
Alabama, Kaska and Sekani were first discovered by keepers hiding inside their den in a tree just a couple of years ago, when they were the first cubs to be born at the park in 18 years. Keepers had been expecting at least one cub, but were delighted and surprised to discover three! The bears live together with Canadian Timber wolves in their reserve on the Road Safari.
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