ARCTUROS
ARCTUROS
THE MYTH
ARCTUROS story begins thousands of years ago...: Callisto was the daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia. Since she was a little girl, she was devoted to Artemis, goddess of hunt and wild animals and vowed to remain a virgin, always faithful to the goddess?s service. Thus, she went to live with Artemis in the woods, hunting wild beasts. One day, Zeus, the father of Gods saw Callisto and fell in love with her. In order to seduce her, he took Artemis?s form and forced Callisto to lie with him. Callisto gave birth to a son, Arcas. Zeus knew that if Hera, his wife, found out, she would be furious with Callisto, so he transformed her into a bear. Callisto roamed the forests for years looking for her son. When she eventually found him, he was a grown man, and she tried to embrace him. But Arcas tried to kill her, not knowing that the bear was his own mother. Zeus felt sorry for them and in order to prevent the matricide, transformed them both into constellations (Ursa major and Ursa minor) and took them with him to heaven. Hera, who never ceased to be angry, ordered Ocean, the river that surrounds earth, not to let them bathe in his waters for eternity. That is why these two constellations never set. Moreover, in order to save them from Hera?s jealousy once and for all, Zeus placed near them another star called Arcturos, whose name means guardian of the bear (bear is called ?arctos? in ancient Greek), to accompany and protect them for ever.
ARCTUROS is a Greek, non-governmental organization seeking to enhance biodiversity and sustainability in the Greek rural areas. ARCTUROS implements cross-border projects in order to protect mountainous ecosystems, with an emphasis on bears and large mammals, aiming at the integrated management of protected mountainous regions and the provision of expertise for natural environment interventions.
ARCTUROS Environmental Center, which operates in Florina perfecture, resolved the problem of captive bears and wolves in Greece and raised public awareness about large mammals.
The breeding of the Greek shepherd dog and its free distribution to farmers in mountainous regions aims at the harmonious coexistence of people and wildlife.
ARCTUROS is a non-profit civil partnership that lobbies to protect nature by developing actions of public awareness, environmental education and volunteerism.
ACTIVITIES :
- helped ban animal circuses in Greece
- created model wildlife sanctuaries for bears and wolves peviously held captive in Nymfaio and Agrapidia, Florina perfecture.
- created Bear and Wolf Information Centers.
- bred and distributed Greek shepferd dogs to farmers for free, in order to repair effectively and in a natural way damages that may have been caused by bears and wolves
- intervened in the development of motorways and the construction of large technical projects for environmental protection.
- established and maintained the National Bear Register with Bear DNA samples (hair) collected from special traps mounted on PPC poles.
- participated in a Mediterranean program to address the illegal use of poisoned baits
- reopened and brought mountain trails back to life.
- restored degraded forest areas with tree planting (150,000 trees planted to date)
- formed an Emergency Response Team to protect wildlife
- cooperated with worldwide institutions on environmental issues of our country.
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CAPTIVE ANIMALS
Ever since its foundation, ARCTUROS has made significant efforts to address the practice of illegal wildlife captivity. After its dynamic interventions, it managed to eliminate the practice of the ?dancing bear? in Greece and is still working on the elimination of illegal wildlife captivity in the wider Balkan region. Also, through the LIFE program, ?WOLF?, it has confiscated wolves held by individuals and zoos in Athens and Florina.
In the past, the practice of the ?dancing bear? was common in Greece. The bears were captured at a very young age, after their mother was killed, because otherwise she would never allow anyone to approach them, and they underwent brutal ?training?. The animal?s snout was pierced with a ring and its canine teeth were broken with metal tools. Then, it was forced to step on hot plates to the sound of a tambourine. In its effort to avoid burning, the young bear had to stand up on its back feet and pace on the spot. This ?training? continued for a certain time period, until it actually created a kind of Pavlovian reflex to the animal. To achieve the desired behavior, the animal was poorly fed and it was rewarded with leftovers, only when it was performing in front of the audience.
Wolf possession by individuals increases the phenomenon of wolves/dogs hybridization in two ways: a) direct interbreeding, decided by the owners, with the naive impression that they will create ?wolfhounds? and b) when the hybrids or wolves prove to be difficult/aggressive, they abandon them, and then, these animals, being entirely dependent on people, remain close to residential areas, causing problems and mating with stray dogs.
Today, 13 formerly captive bears are hosted in the Bear Sanctuary, in Nymfaio, Florina, which was created under the LIFE program ?Arctos?. It is in a natural beech forest, while the whole region forms a typical bear habitat. Similarly, 10 formerly captive wolves are hosted in the Wolf Sanctuary, in a 17 acre specially fenced area of natural oak forest, where they will live for the rest of their lives.
Although huge efforts have been made to end the practice of wolf captivity, unfortunately there are still individuals who illegally capture wolves, while zoos of our country keep wolves and bears in unsuitable environments.
ANIMAL FREE-CIRCUSES
Since 2007, ARCTUROS has run a campaign titled "Greece, a country free from animal circuses" bringing to light facts about the torture of elephants by an Italian circus, which operated and toured all over Greece and informed thousands of citizens and students for the appalling conditions of animal training used in circuses. ARCTUROS petition, which was supported and co-signed by 30,000 people on our blog, was filed with both the Greek and the European Parliament. In January 2012 a bill which bans the operation of animal circuses and all kinds of performances with animals was finally voted by the the Greek Parliament.
Greece became the 1st European country, 2nd in the world without animal circuses and the 4th European country without a wildlife circus.
SHEPHERD DOG
The Greek Shepherd Dog (a.k.a. Hellenikos Poimenikos) has been guarding livestock in mountainous areas of Greece for centuries and nowadays it is rightfully considered part of our natural and cultural heritage. It is valuable because it is perfectly suited to the natural conditions of the Greek mountains and has become by now a priceless and irreplaceable guardian, capable of handling attacks by large carnivores, such as bears and wolves.
ARCTUROS in the prevention of damage caused by bears and wolves on livestock capital and seeking to protect this Greek breed threatened with extinction, it breeds Greek shepherd dogs since 1998 and distributes them to farmers, whose flocks graze in habitats of large carnivores, free of charge. The breeding program is implemented in modern facilities in Aetos village, Florina, which include 10-12 breeding areas, a common exercise area and an adjustment area, where the animals practice living with livestock (sheep, goats, and cows). Each year, 50 puppies are born in the Center.
FORESTS
1. Reforestation
ARCTUROS carries out reforestation projects since 1997, creating and restoring forests and enhancing biodiversity, in order to increase food availability for wildlife with wild flora species. So far, 200,000 trees have been planted in Greece, in areas where natural forest regeneration is not feasible. In collaboration with the Reforestation Authorities, ARCTUROS obtains the required licensing. Then, a specialized team ensures the healthy growth of the trees for 3 years, a time period essential to their survival.
2. Cleaning forests
Conservation program for periburban forests and their cleaning from inorganic matter (waste) and organic matter (dead trees and branches). Under this program, forests around our cities are being revived in order to become viable places for people and flora and fauna species as well.
In 2011, during fire season, ARCTUROS in cooperation with the natural mineral water AVRA cleaned 6 periurban forests throughout Greece, from waste and flammable organic matter Greece. ARCTUROS has cleaned 43 acres from 3 tonnes of waste in total, contributing considerably to forest fire prevention.
