Senj - Kuterevo - Senj

Bear sanctuary - Kuterevo

Pretty crap weather today but nethertheless we got in the car and went into Velebit National Park in an attempt to go hiking in the mountainous karst region.  Arrived at the tourist information centre to find it closed for lunch.

Seeing it was miserable and cold we decided not to hang about and instead drove another 20 minutes to a bear sanctuary at a place called Kuterevo.  

The bear sanctuary is a place run by volunteers who come from all over the world to work with the bears. 

Bears + woods = yes they do.

The orphan bears come from all over Croatia to the sanctuary due to various misadventures involving cars, trains and hunters knocking off their mothers.  

We had small guided tour with one of the local volunteers who told us they are unfunded by the government, strapped for cash and don't have enough space for the bears that are coming in all the time.  

They are hoping that when they get enough funds they will eventually open a 10 hectare area for the bears to move around in.  

To complicate matters the larger male bears have to be kept separate to the younger bears as they have a tendency to kill the smaller bears to assert their dominance.  Even their own.  (They must have been on a 3 month European tour with their kids.)

Harry loves animals.
Provided they are made of wood.

Being a dominate male bear has it's advantages. 

Given the lack of available space this infanticide caper is problematic to say the least.  

We made a donation, bought some postcards and scooted out of there wishing them all the best.

On the way back we stopped in again in the tourist office which was now open and spoke to the ranger and picked up a bunch of maps and information.   

We are going to Plitvice National Park tomorrow and there is rain forecast for the day after so unfortunately we are unsure if we will make it back to Velebit but we will see.

Max and Ryan.

A bit bummed not to go hiking so on the way back down I pulled the car over at a likely looking hill and forced the Griswolds up said hill in the cold and the rain.  Who says hiking can't be fun?

Nicki and Ryan.

Stray observations:  I watched a youtube video about Velebit National Park and they were interviewing the fellow that lives on the mountain that does the monitoring of the weather and he said something I thought was quite good.  

A rich person is not one who has a lot, but one who needs little.

I'm not claiming that but I like it a lot.