The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is pleased to announce that a new, award-winning online black bear education website is now available to teachers, students and the general public.
This new bear education portal -- http://blackbearinfo.com/ -- offers a vibrant assortment of bear education movies, images and text that cover almost every aspect of understanding and living with black bears. Many of the online video clips come from the award-winning film, Living with Black Bears. This film earned international attention winning a Silver Telly Award for a wildlife production while also earning Honorable Mention at the prestigious International Wildlife Film Festival.
This new website reflects six years of work by a coalition of bear states partnered with bear education non-profits and wildlife educators to develop a two-tier bear education program that educates the general population on Living with Black Bears, while also formally educating our next generation of students about Understanding Black Bears.
Now students and teachers can access an entire year’s worth of exciting black bear education for learning at home and in classrooms. Though anyone can download the free program and access the Student’s Section, Louisiana state teachers will need to register to receive their exclusive access code. The teacher’s section of the program contains 29 lesson activities and related classroom support materials. The free access code can be obtained by all Louisiana educators at http://blackbearinfo.com/teachers/.
Two decades ago, the Louisiana Black Bear was on the brink of extinction, but today it is on the rebound. When the Louisiana Black Bear was listed as threatened in 1992 under the Endangered Species Act, there were estimated to be fewer than 300 of them left in the world. Today, innovative programs to reestablish these animals and restore their habitat through improved land management, high-tech monitoring, and public education are enabling the recovery.