Consulate-General of Japan in Dusseldorf

Welfare of bears in Japanese bear parks
Dear Excellency

I am writing to express my concern with regards the welfare of bears in Japanese bear parks.

I urge the Japanese authorities to carry out the following actions:
Provide support to the bear parks to develop naturalistic enclosures which allow the bears to express natural behaviours and contain sufficient space and material to allow behavioural enrichment. Enclosures should be built following the standards developed at sanctuaries for brown bears and Asiatic black bears globally.
Develop protocols under the supervision of a veterinary surgeon that is familiar with current practice in the care of captive bears, to ensure the condition, health and behaviour of all animals is assessed regularly, and a record indicating changes to the prescribed diet, health checks carried out, any unusual behaviour or activity or other problems, and remedial actions taken.
Develop initiatives to provide capacity building training for members of staff to recognise abnormal behaviour and clinical symptoms of illness and develop the knowledge of the diets, husbandry, and enrichment procedures required for the bears in their care.

If these conditions cannot be met I urge you to close the bear parks and support the humane euthanasia of these bears.

Yours sincerely,
Doris Volmar