The project LIFE Bears with Future launches a new cartoon video presenting usefull advice to visit bear mountains that can be helpfull to improve safety of both bears and visitors. It is part of the information campaign of the project, which develops different conservation actions for the Cantabrian bear under the current and foreseen climate change scenarios.
The aim of the video is to contribute to the compatibility between recreational activities in natural areas and the presence of bears in a context such as the current one, in which both these activities and the bear population are increasing. The LIFE project highlights the importance of expanding information actions also during the winter. The rise in winter temperatures in the mountains due to climate change will predictably affect bear hibernation, shortening it or even making bears not to hibernate at all, wich means there will be more active bears in the mountains.
The video also addresses the recommendations on how to act when encountering a bear, even if a bluff charge or a very exceptional attack occurs. It should be stressed that in Europe bears avoid contact with people, and they usually detect us well in advance, discreetly moving away from the place without the person realizing it in most cases. However, in case of a fortuitous encounter, one should never react aggressively or shout, or try to approach the bear because this actions could be identify as a threat.
The cartoon format of the story and its style aimed at all audiences seek to disseminate the messages. As the recommendations are similar in most of the European bear populations, an English translation of the video has been made to facilitate its use in other areas and agreements are being established to make versions in other languages. The animation video has been carried out by The Glow Animation Studio, recognized, among other awards, with the European Film Award and a Goya from the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. The original idea and the script have been conceived by the FOP.
A coordinated project
The “Bears with Future” Project, co-financed by the European Union LIFE Project, will be carried out until 2025. It is coordinated by the Brown Bear Foundation in partnership with the Biodiversity Foundation (Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge), and the Natural heritage Foundation of the Castilla y León regional government. The Government of Asturias is co-financer, via the Directorate General for the Environment and Rural Planning, of the Department of Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries. Tierra Pura Foundation collaborates technically and co-finances the project.