Non-hibernating bears fed with special diet program
BURSA
A special diet program has been made for 72 bears that did not hibernate in Türkiye’s only bear shelter in the northwestern province of Bursa.
Some 72 bears at the Karacabey Ovakorusu Bear Shelter could not hibernate due to the unusual seasonal conditions. Apart from the food they find in the natural environment, the bears are fed specially by their caretakers to prepare for winter.
Though bears do not sleep in winter, they enter a period of drowsiness called “torpor” and are given less food because their metabolism slows.
Accordingly, the bear shelter workers prepared a special diet program to preserve the natural balance of animals that do not hibernate.
Similarly, Mustafa Aslan, a nature photographer in the eastern province of Sivas, recently stated that bears have not hibernated “as the region has not received snowfall.”
“I came across a bear while I was looking for wild goats. I did not expect to see the bear during this season. Currently, they actively continue to roam in nature. The fact that there has been no snowfall has adversely affected the wild animals. The bears are continuing to feed as the snow is not covering the surface at the moment, and are not hibernating,” Aslan explained.
