Welcome to the Ursus International website! Please browse through the site to find out more about Ursus International's bear conservation work.
About Ursus International
Ursus International Conservation Institute is dedicated to the conservation of bears and their habitat. We seek to further the conservation of all the species of bears by creating a sympathetic and informed attitude towards them that is based on an understanding of the critical situations facing their populations.
Ursus also provides tourism and expedition guiding services, lectures and programming at all levels, consulting services for industry, film, television and other media, and training in bear encounter and conflict management for expedition guides, industry, wildlife management staff, home owners groups and individuals.
Ursus also supplies high quality bear deterrent equipment. While recognizing that conflict with bears can result in a need for lethal force, Ursus’ work is predicated on the fact that the vast majority of the time, it does not need to, and is oriented towards non-lethal management wherever possible. Please contact us for any further information.
Big picture conservation
Ursus International operates on the principal that bear conservation is synonymous with whole-ecosystem conservation. Ensuring that the range and food requirements of bears are met ensures that their populations remain viable and, therefore, that the populations of other species requiring less food and space, 'beneath' the bear in those ecosystems, are also healthy. Ursus' primary conservation tool is education, equipping individuals, communities and industry with information and skills that reduce conflict between bears and people, and promote coexistence. Ursus' guiding principal is that because bears are found in so many diverse parts of the world, administering their conservation needs and assuring their ecological viability is synonymous with maintaining the viability of the whole ecosystem. This conservation perspective transcends local, national and political boundaries, and simply considers how to maintain the health and viability of whole, interconnected ecosystems.