ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Six domesticated bears were released on Mount Gara in Duhok province on Thursday, receiving a mixed response from people and animal rights organizations.
The six bears – three male and three female – were kept as pets in Erbil, Nasiriyah and Basra, and were released by the Kurdish American Cooperation Organization. Some were donated to the organization, while others were sold for a nominal price.
The organization was founded in 2016 and claims to work for animal rights and the protection of the environment, in addition to promoting cooperation between Kurds and Americans.
Footage on social media appeared to show the bears attack spectators surrounding them.
Aged between one and five years old, the bears were released to “beautify” the local area, according to Blend Brifkani, head of the organization.
“Our aim in increasing the number of bears is to make the area beautiful as their numbers have decreased due to clashes in the past,” he told Rudaw, referring to frequent clashes between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkey announced a new phase of a military operation against the PKK on the mountain a day earlier.
Brifkani added that they plan to release more bears in other parts of Kurdistan. They released six Asiatic brown bears in April 2017 in Halgurd National Park in Choman, Erbil province, and three other bears were also released on Mount Gara in April 2019.
Harikar Majeed is from Daraspindar village – the nearest village to the mountain – in Chamanke sub-district. He told Rudaw that the release of the bears made him happy as it will “beautify” the area, and could attract tourists.
“We, as the people of the village, defend the beauty of our village surroundings, and will not allow anyone to attack or kill these animals.”
Mohammed Abbas, a tourist from Baghdad, says he left his tour group in Duhok to visit the mountain after hearing of plans to release the bears.
“It will attract many tourists like me to come to this area. If there are more wild animals here, all Iraqi tourists will visit,” he told Rudaw.
However, the move was not free from criticism, with some arguing the bears will not adapt to life in the wild.
“This guy releases bears so that they are later killed by people – we saw the same in Sakran. From the bears behaviour, it is clear that they have been domesticated and do not fear humans. Therefore, they are absolutely not suitable for release,” the Persian Leopard Conservation, an environmental conservation organization, said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Saman Tamar, head of the Animal Rights Protection organization, told Rudaw that the bears will not be able to survive.
“These animals cannot survive as they can be easily hunted and they could even be preyed on by wolves and tigers because they do not know how to defend themselves.”