Bears are highly intelligent omnivores that require complex, varied enrichment addressing foraging, exploration, and sensory needs. Effective bear enrichment programs demonstrate what evidence-based zoo welfare looks like.
Bear enrichment at exemplary facilities demonstrates the gap between what is achievable and what is standard across zoo bear management. Bears that forage throughout the day, swim, investigate novel objects, and problem-solve for food occupy the behavioral repertoire they evolved for and show correspondingly low stereotypy rates. Bears in exhibits with direct feeding and minimal environmental complexity express the frustration of unfulfilled foraging drive through repetitive pacing that is visible to visitors and measurable through behavioral time budgets. The transformation of bear welfare at the Fort Wayne Zoo and similar facilities provides both a welfare success story and a template for what comprehensive enrichment can achieve.