the rare species conservation centre in kent are the only zoo that houses sun bears in england, the only others in the UK are belfast (obviously in ireland)
well i meant that anyway the enclosure at rscc has been the source of much discussion and opinions on the gallery: http://www.zoochat.com/722/sun-bears-rscc-kent-67416/
There is only 1 zoo in the United Kingdom with polar bears, and only 2 zoos with sun bears? Wow, the lack of diversity with bears is similar to Australian zoos! In the U.S. the Cleveland and San Diego zoos lead the way as they each have 6 different bear species all by themselves.
Polar Bear - Edinburgh, Heythrop (Private) Brown Bear - Whipsnade, Dartmoor, Welsh Mountain, Blair Drummond, Camperdown, Heythrop (Private) American Black Bear - Woburn Asiatic Black Bear - Dudley, Heythrop (Private) Sloth Bear - Whipsnade Spectacled Bear - Jersey, Chester, Belfast, South Lakes Sun Bear - Belfast, RSCC Just to give a clear view.
Thanks for that Marwell Dalek! So there are only 14 establishments in the United Kingdom (out of hundreds) to see bears? I knew that the pickings were slim, but I had no idea at just how few bears there were in that part of the world. I suppose that by living in Canada and visiting loads of zoos in the United States I have been accustomed to seeing bears everywhere I go. They are a dime a dozen in North America, and I've even seen 6 grizzlies and more than 20 black bears in the wild. I would have thought that many northern bear species would have done well in the U.K. due to the favourable weather conditions.
Not only are there very few bears in the UK but they are mostly old and non-breeding . The last births I can think of , quite a few years ago now , would have been sloth bears at London . Chester would like to breed spectacled bears but has lost several and hopefully the young pair of sun bears at RSCC will breed .
I live 5 miles from the Rare Species Conservation Centre. I went there once when it had just opened, unfortunately, not impressed. I can't think where they will put 2 Sun Bears but I will have to go again and find out.
