Warmth keeping zoo bears awake

It is still the middle of winter and should be time for hibernating animals to be asleep, but Inca the Asiatic black bear is up and about and raring to go for spring.

Inca, 27, and her companion Gretel, 28, should still be tucked up and enjoying a long snooze at Dudley Zoo, but the pair have not been doing much dozing this winter.

Normally the animals would hibernate during the colder months, but the mild weather means they have not needed as much shut-eye.

Deputy curator Richard Brown said the protected species found in the Himalayas generally spend around five months of the year from November to March in a semi-hibernation.

“During the colder months we tend not to see much of the bears as they are tucked up in their den,” he said.

“But this winter they have been really active because of the mild weather. If there was a sudden cold snap they would go back inside their den.”

The keeper has been feeding the bears outside and said he had to make sure the animals didn’t pile on the pounds.