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Saving the World’s Bears
By Nate | November 8, 2007
“For long ages, bears have held a special place in human minds and myth. They represent power, ferocity, strength…From cave bears to Beowulf, from Goldilocks to the legend of the Danish royal family descended from bears, our species has grown up with this one. Now our species threatens to overwhelm this one, in old fashioned ways and new ones, from bear baiting to bear farms, to a shrinking ice cap and homes in bear country.”
So says Tom Ashbrook, the host of WBUR’s On Point, at the start of a recent show examining the history, mystery, and, sometimes, misery of the world’s bears. Joined by Victor Watkins, Wildlife Advisor to the World Society for the Protection of Animals, and Robert Bieder, author of “Bear” and a retired Indiana University visiting history professor, Ashbrook spends the better part of an hour delving into bears’ long and very special relationship with humans.
I can’t recommend the show highly enough. However, I’ll warn you that, unlike the tender loving care our Teddy Bears are so lucky to receive, real bears frequently face lives of brutal exploitation. Watkins and Bieder are very forthright about the many ways that bears are mistreated around the world, not to mention the issues of environmental degradation, habitat encroachment, and poaching, and these descriptions can be appalling. To be honest, at points in the show, I flat-out cried.
But the reason I’m sharing this important show with you–the reason I was asked to share it–is that I’m part of a company that has forged a very special relationship of its own with the bear. This relationship has informed our evolution, produced a point of view, created a way of life.
We say there is an answer to inhumanity. Be Bear.
We say there is an answer to selfishness. Be Bear.
We say there is an answer to isolation. Be Bear.
By doing good, by not just paying it back but paying it forward, by keeping connected to others and to nature, Being Bear is being true to the spirit of the bear and being true to a living, breathing relationship…with living, breathing beings.
That’s why, right here in the Be Bear blog, we’re saying, “If you can make the time, please listen to ‘Saving the World’s Bears‘ and learn about the history and reality of humanity’s unique relationship with bears.”
That’s why we have a relationship with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a wonderful nonprofit organization working to prevent animal cruelty and abuse, protect wildlife and their habitats, and rescue animals around the world. To help support IFAW’s crucial work, we have a collection of six special Teddy Bears called Save The Bears®. (Click here to see our Save The Bears® collection.) The sale of each of these Bears yields a $5 donation to IFAW to help all their work, which includes working to eradicate bear farming. (Here’s some more about our Save The Bears program on the IFAW site.)
That’s why we do so many of the creative, caring, optimistic things we do. Being Bear helps us come to our senses. We hope that, by Being Bear, we become better humans.
Topics: Bearvolution, Save the Bears |