lin821
May 2, 09, 5:37 pm
msnbc (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30522211/): Euthanization of Pedro ends Switzerland city's nearly 500-year tradition
updated 2:57 p.m. CT, Fri., May 1, 2009
GENEVA - Bern's Bear Pit, for centuries a tourist attraction and a symbol of the city, has lost its last resident to euthanasia and will be closed for good.
Pedro, a 28-year-old brown bear, was put to death Thursday, ending a tradition that had spanned nearly 500 years. The pit that housed the beasts giving the city its name will be replaced by a more bear-friendly park with access to the Aare River below.
Bears have played an important role in Bern, which features the animal on its flag and coat-of-arms. The animals were plentiful in Switzerland until being hunted to extinction in the country about a century ago, and the legend of Bern has it that Count Berchtold V named the capital after killing a bear in the city he was founding.
The city began studying how to make a better home for its bears at the beginning of the decade and construction on the new Bear Park started in 2008. It is scheduled to open in October and will stretch over 65,000 square feet from the current pit to the Aare River below, giving bears the chance to roam over a wide expanse of greenery and catch fresh fish from the water. A wall in the river ensures they will not be able to swim away or be carried away by the current.
Bosshard said two Scandinavian bears in Bern's Daehlhoelzli Zoo, Bjoerk and Finn, would move into the new park in October.
Last picture of Pedro (http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/ap/c156a91a-9bd2-4003-9395-e35d8b22e625.hmedium.jpg)
updated 2:57 p.m. CT, Fri., May 1, 2009
GENEVA - Bern's Bear Pit, for centuries a tourist attraction and a symbol of the city, has lost its last resident to euthanasia and will be closed for good.
Pedro, a 28-year-old brown bear, was put to death Thursday, ending a tradition that had spanned nearly 500 years. The pit that housed the beasts giving the city its name will be replaced by a more bear-friendly park with access to the Aare River below.
Bears have played an important role in Bern, which features the animal on its flag and coat-of-arms. The animals were plentiful in Switzerland until being hunted to extinction in the country about a century ago, and the legend of Bern has it that Count Berchtold V named the capital after killing a bear in the city he was founding.
The city began studying how to make a better home for its bears at the beginning of the decade and construction on the new Bear Park started in 2008. It is scheduled to open in October and will stretch over 65,000 square feet from the current pit to the Aare River below, giving bears the chance to roam over a wide expanse of greenery and catch fresh fish from the water. A wall in the river ensures they will not be able to swim away or be carried away by the current.
Bosshard said two Scandinavian bears in Bern's Daehlhoelzli Zoo, Bjoerk and Finn, would move into the new park in October.
Last picture of Pedro (http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/ap/c156a91a-9bd2-4003-9395-e35d8b22e625.hmedium.jpg)