A tradition of spoiling bears

When spring is upon us and the bears have finished hibernating, we take them a big sweet gift: Kursaal honey. We treat the bears at the BärenPark to this once a year and have been doing so, with a few brief interruptions, ever since the bees came to live on the Kursaal terrace, i.e. since 2017. And we love doing so every single time. This time, we were accompanied by a primary class from the Spitalacker-Schulhaus school.

Honey scent entices bears

Bears love honey and can smell it from several kilometres away, Stefan Steuri from the Bern Animal Park explained to us. When we spread out the honey in the Great Pit, the old part of the bear park, the bears in the spacious park became restless and a little loud. They wanted honey, that much was clear. No sooner had all the people left the Great Pit than the three bears pushed their way in, sniffed the air and headed straight for where they could find the sweet delicacy. Honey in the grass, on the tree, behind rocks and in the corners – the children had done their best and watched the spectacle from above with amazement.

Vegetables were disregarded

During this enjoyable and educational morning, Stefan Steuri from Bern Zoo told the younger and older visitors a lot of interesting facts about bears before they began to distribute the honey. And because too much honey isn't healthy for bears either, the children also put out cucumbers and carrots for them. That the bears immediately lapped up the honey and didn't pay any attention to the vegetables at first was something the children could well understand.