Our bears will soon come out of their hibernation to spend the longer days grazing, bathing and playing.

For some of our bears, however, there is one special item on their daily list - medical training.

The subject of "bear training" is very important in a bear sanctuary like BÄRENWALD Müritz, but not without conflict, says bear trainer and animal keeper Raphaël. He is primarily responsible for designing and conducting the training sessions.

"When people hear that we train our bears, they immediately think of circus tricks. Of course it's not! It's more about taking the stress out of the times when the vet visits - for example: if the bear can open its mouth on command, no anesthetic is needed to check the status of the teeth and the bear already knows the situation."

Especially bears that are prone to stress can benefit from this training.

It not only offers the bears variety and entertainment, but also makes it easier for them to deal with potentially stressful situations in the long term.

Luna and Rocco both had difficult pasts and show stress-related behavioral problems as a result. The training offers them a positive experience that strengthens their self-confidence and introduces them to unfamiliar things.

Training is also particularly important for our oldest female bear, Tapsi, in order to avoid anesthesia. "Anesthesia and medical procedures are associated with a high risk, especially in older animals. But they also have more frequent problems that need to be examined by a veterinarian."

The bears are not taught circus tricks. On the contrary, the bears are here at the bear sanctuary to rediscover their natural instincts and lead a species-appropriate life. The welfare of the bears always comes first. In addition, it is particularly important to us that bears, and wild animals in general, are not pets or objects of entertainment. We want to treat our bears with as much respect as possible and model this behavior to our visitors.

Play, learn and be a bear - this is how the bears learn to overcome their human-shaped past and rediscover their natural instincts.

The behaviors that the bears are taught are all based on medical examinations and other necessary procedures.

All bears basically start with trust building and the so-called "target training". The bear learns to touch a certain object with its nose. This behavior can later be used to assist bears in learning more complicated behaviours.

Next, in most cases, a bear will learn to open its mouth on command and step on a scale voluntarily. This is particularly important as the weight of brown bears fluctuates greatly throughout the year. With the accurate weight, medication or anesthetics can be applied with precision, resulting in better overall bear health and less risk of complications.

Further goals are then decided depending on the bear or the situation. This could be entering a transport box voluntarily, giving a paw or showing certain body parts if, for example, surgical scars are to be observed.

The training always starts the same way:

The bear is called by its name into one of the bear houses and given a piece of fruit.

The bears in the BEAR SANCTUARY have a very positive attitude towards their keepers - and they rarely say no to delicious fruit. But if the bear doesn't show up that day, that's okay too, then the training will be moved to another day. Nothing is forced, and only the active cooperation of the bear leads to a positive experience for everyone involved.

"It's especially important to set the bears up for success. We're not doing this to prove that we can, we're doing this to help the bears."

The training sessions are therefore only five to ten minutes long, to avoid that a bear loses interest - so the training is always an exciting activity, which the bears enjoy participating in.

During training, wanted behaviours are broken down into small steps so that the bear can slowly be introduced to a new task.

Stepping onto a scale would therefore begin with sniffing a "scale"-sized piece of cardboard. If the bear shows interest or even enters the cardboard, the desired behavior is rewarded with a clicking sound and then strengthened with a piece of fruit. So the bear knows exactly what he did right. The rewarding becomes more and more precise, until at some point the bear has to stand on the cardboard with all four paws to get the click and the piece of fruit. Later, a home-made replica scale is used, and even ignoring the power cords that operate the scale needs practice.

This process can take several weeks or even months, but in the end a lot of physical stress can be avoided when the bear needs to be weighed.

The training should always end on a positive note. This motivates the bear to take part in the training again next time.

Later, Raphaël fills out a training log. This allows keepers to compare the bears behavioral over time and see progress. What works well, what doesn't, which fruit does the bear particularly like - all this information enables the keepers to adapt the training individually to the needs and requirements of the individual bears.

This takes a lot of time, especially at the beginning. But it's worth it:

"For example, when comparing Rocco's training sessions, I noticed at some point that we often had to stop because he was distracted by screaming children. After we moved the training location to another point in the enclosure, he was much more concentrated. That's why it's so important to take these training protocols seriously."

Bear training is not something that is taught in animal keeper training or studies. Animal trainer Raphaël learned how to train wild animals from experienced veterinarians and keepers. But before he was allowed to start training the wild cats and birds of prey at his previous work place, he had to prove that he could train a chicken - not as easy as it sounds, and a good test of patience.

He taught himself the rest by trying and observing.

"Every bear is different and what works for one won't necessarily work for another. It's true for all animals, but it's especially true for wildlife. But that's what makes the job so exciting and rewarding - success means we can save bears from stress in the future, and that's most important!"