February 27 – International Polar Bear Day

With the support of the organization Polar Bears International, since 2014, International Polar Bear Day has appeared in the ecological calendar with a fixed date of February 27.

The purpose of International Polar Bear Day is to spread information about these animals and draw public attention to the need to protect both the bears themselves and their natural habitat.

The main reasons for the decrease in the polar bear population are:

1. Poaching. Despite the legal ban on the extraction of polar bears, the price of the animal's skin and other trophies of its extraction on the black market is very high.

2. Global warming. According to scientists, the area of the Arctic ice cover, which is the natural habitat of polar bears, has significantly decreased.

3. Pollution of the arctic natural environment. Marine waters and coastal ecosystems are polluted by pesticides, radionuclides, fuel combustion products, heavy metals, fuel and lubricating materials, oil, etc.

Mykolaiv Zoo is the only zoo in Ukraine that has polar bears in its collection. These are an adult female Zefirka (born in 2011) and her daughter named Smetanka (born in 2017).

Visitors of Mykolaiv Zoo were able to congratulate their favorites on the holiday. Specially for International Polar Bear Day, various ecological and educational events were organized: an interesting lecture about polar bears, an educational and entertaining program, during which our young guests could not only play, but also learn many interesting facts about the culprits of the holiday, as well as about, what everyone can do to save these beautiful animals. And, of course, our bears received festive delicacies, and visitors had the opportunity to observe the animals' behavior during demonstrative feeding.