Next week is Bear Awareness Week, and the North Carolina Piedmont Chapter of the American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK), of which several museum keepers and several keepers from the Duke Lemur Center are a part of, will be heading up our activities this year.

Bear Awareness week is a week dedicated to learning about bear behaviors, spreading knowledge about bear species and their plights (6 out of 8 bear species are in danger of extinction), and learning how to cohabitate with bears responsibly.

The AAZK will have a table set up at the bear overlook all day Sunday the 16th, Wednesday 19th  in the afternoon, and Saturday the 23rd from 11am-4pm. They’ll be doing enrichment sessions, feeding programs, and they’ll be testing some bear proof food containers that you’d use when camping. They’ll also have goodies to give away, and they’ll have a raffle where you can win a behind the scenes tour of the bear house, a tour of the Duke Lemur Center, and paintings that our animals have made (they’ll also have these paintings and note cards for sale–proceeds go to support our AAZK chapter). Also, all week our daily 2pm Meet the Keeper program will be at the bear overlook.

Come on by this week and say hey! Here’s a little taste of the cuteness you might see: