Velebit Association Kuterevo

Velebit Association Kuterevo is a local non-governmental organization that was founded in 1995. The vision of the organization is the sustainability of the natural ecosystem and the local mountain community. The main aims of the organization are preservation of natural and cultural heritage in the region. Our organization believes that through the protection of the bear we will protect other animals and plants and even more crucial we will protect their habitats. The main activities of the organisation are the care of resident bears and the bear facilities within the Bear Refuge, informative and educational work with visitors and running the Volunteers’ Station. Since the year 2001 it has been running a project of the bear refuge located in the village of Kuterevo: Refugium Ursorum. The refuge was founded on the principles of awareness raising and education of visitors and the preservation of brown bears and their habitat in Croatia. Its mission is to provide refuge for orphaned bear cubs, protect their habitat and promote the sustainable living traditions of the local mountain community that has coexisted with the bears and wilderness for centuries. The Volunteers’ Station “Friends of Bears” was established in 2004, as additional supporting structure to the Refuge and a community development initiative. During spring and summer the Refuge hosts many local and international short-term and long-term volunteers. Our organization cooperates with experts; veterinarians, ecologists, conservationists and sociologists, the Otočac Municipality and various international voluntary organizations (Service Civil International, International Student Volunteers, Bouworde Belgium etc.). At the community level the organization closely cooperates with the local primary school, the Mountaineers’ Association, the Volunteer Fire Department, the Public Library and the Public University in Otočac. The organisation has no full time staff; all the activities are coordinated and carried out by voluntary activities of the members. There more than 20 members actively involved in the organization, among which several families and closest neighbours; in general activists of all generations. All roles and tasks within the organization are voluntary. The informal club “Friends of Bears” was founded in 2010 in order to gather bear-fans and supporters of the project. Besides, Aktion Bärenkinder e.V. www.baerenfreunde-kuterevo.de was founded by a group of people in Germany that has been actively supporting the project through volunteering, fundraising and awareness raising activities.