SERBIA-MONTENEGO: BEARS AT A RESCUE CENTRE IN BANOSTOR PREDICT LATE ARRIVAL OF SPRING
Record ID:
494573
SERBIA-MONTENEGO: BEARS AT A RESCUE CENTRE IN BANOSTOR PREDICT LATE ARRIVAL OF SPRING
- Title: SERBIA-MONTENEGO: BEARS AT A RESCUE CENTRE IN BANOSTOR PREDICT LATE ARRIVAL OF SPRING
- Date: 28th February 2005
- Summary: (CEEF) BANOSTOR, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO (RECENT, FEBRUARY 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SCU: BEAR MICKO SMELLING THE AIR 0.07 2. SCU: BEAR BOZANA SLEEPING 0.14 3. FOUNDERS OF ARKA, NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATION FOR PROTECTION OF ANIMALS, APPROACHING THE CAGES WITH BEARS (2 SHOTS) 0.25 4. BEAR MARIJA RUNNING FROM CAGE AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN 0.41 5. CU: BEAR MARIJA PLAYING WITH KEEPER THROUGH CAGE 0.48 6. SCU: BEAR MICKO KISSING BRANKA PASKO, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF ARKA THROUGH CAGE 0.57 7. VARIOUS OF PASKO STROKING MICKO (2 SHOTS) 1.10 8. PAN UP FROM CLAWS ON TO THE HEALING WOUNDS ON HER FACE, CAUSED BY A CHAIN WHILE SHE WAS IN CAPTIVITY/ CU: MICKO'S EYE (2 SHOTS) 1.21 9. BRANKA PASKO, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF ARKA LOOKING THROUGH A PHOTO ALBUM 1.26 10. CLOSE UP ON A PHOTOGRAPH OF BEAR BOZANA DRINKING BEER WHILE SHE WAS IN CAPTIVITY 1.37 11. CLOSE UP ON A PHOTOGRAPH OF A WOMAN THREATENING MEMBERS OF ARKA WITH A KNIFE WHEN THEY CAME TO RESCUE BEAR USHKE 1.43 12. CLOSE UP ON A PHOTOGRAPH OF A BEAR DANCING TO THE MUSIC 1.48 13. CLOSE UP ON A PHOTOGRAPH OF BEAR USHKE BEING RELEASED 1.53 14. (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) BRANKA PASKO SPEAKING SAYING: " Our bears Micko, Bozana, Kasandra, Marija, Elvis and Ushke unanimously decided that winter will last for another 40 days and that the first days of spring will not come before 20th of March." 2.11 15. VARIOUS OF BEARS AT RESCUE CENTRE (3 SHOTS) 2.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th March 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BANOSTOR, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA5Y0OYOG98LQ2LP983W3JVVMBY
- Story Text: Bears predict late arrival of spring in Europe this
year.
Weather forecasts are notoriously fickle, but bees,
caterpillars and bears are proving as divided as
meteorologists on how long winter will last.
A popular belief in Serbia and Montenegro says that
bears can unmistakably predict the arrival of spring.
On Sretenje, a Serbian Orthodox Church religious
holiday in late February, bears come out of their caves,
look around, smell the air and decide if it is time for
them to come out of their winter sleep.
This year, six bears from Arka, an animal rescue centre
in Banostor, some 100 km west of Belgrade, returned to
their caves, predicting that the winter was nowhere near
finished yet.
The bear carers said the bears' behaviour indicated the
first signs of spring can only be expected in the second
part of March.
"Our bears unanimously decided that winter will last
for another forty days and that first days of spring will
not come before March 20th," Branka Pasko one of the
founders of Arka said.
The rescue center in Banostor was founded by a
non-governmental organisation Arka in 1998. Its main goal
is to provide care for wild animals and protect their
habitat.
Arka activists say brown bears are frequently maltreated
across Serbia and Montenegro and are widely used
for entertainment purposes at village fairs. Currently,
there are six bears in the centre that have been taken away
from entertainers. The bears will be transferred to the
National Park at Fruska Gora near Novi Sad after a period
of rehabilitation.
Animal behaviour is often used as a clue to predict
weather changes.
The world's most famous animal forecaster - U.S. rodent
Punxsutawney Phil, made famous by the film Groundhog Day -
has forecast another six weeks of winter, as he crawled
out of his Pennsylvanian hole on February 2 and saw his own
shadow.
Some energy traders and analysts try and predict
temperatures in the U.S. northeast, the world's biggest
heating oil consumer region, as a barometer of oil demand.
Back in autumn, oil analysts pointed to narrow patches
of brown fur on the back of woolly bear caterpillars as a
sign that the U.S. winter could be harsh. Frantic
acorn-gathering activity by squirrels appeared to confirm
the prognosis.
Zoologists say insects can respond to different
humidity, though birds are more likely to use changing day
length as a sign to migrate than unreliable temperatures.
In Russia, a bear in a zoo woke up in January from her
hibernation two months early, while another had not gone to
sleep at all. Temperatures have since headed downwards but
overall the normally ferocious winter has been unusually
mild.
This has enabled oil exports from the world's largest
producer to continue at high levels, at a time when ice
usually restricts transportation, traders said.
In Europe, the UK's Met Office has forecast mild
weather until April for northern Europe, but it warns
techniques for seasonal forecasts are still at an early
stage of development and are less skilled than short-term
predictions.
In Finland, a man successfully predicted weather for a
year based on his frog's behaviour. But overall the success
at long-term forecasting by both humans and animals is
inconclusive.
Some scientists say that animals cannot predict
weather, but simply adapt their behaviour to current
conditions, so that any forecasts gleaned could only be
short-term.
There seems no doubt that many animals have senses more
highly developed than humans to changes in environment. Few
large animals appear to have been killed in the recent
Asian tsunami, while the human death toll has risen to
around 300,000.
However, animals may not be able to adapt enough to
changing temperatures - whole species face extinction from
global warming, scientists said on Wednesday.
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